Indifference in Night by Elie Wiesel: A Poison That Spreads

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In the novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel, the author displays the transformation and the evolution of the average human being, through a horrible experience that he personally went through. When he is transported from one place to another, forced to leave everything behind, to go live in the ghettos, then in a horrible concentration camp. In the concentration camp Elie experiences numerous events that challenges his physical and mental limits. Some of these events made him question his faith, and whether there is such a thing as God, turning him from a conservative Jew to a reform Jew. Elie doesn’t love the concentration camps, yet he doesn’t hate it, in fact he does not care anymore. At a conference in 1986 Elie explains “The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference”. (Elie Wiesel), meaning that opposite of love is not hate, it’s getting used to use to the situation, to the point that the person doesn’t care whether what is happening is right or wrong. In the novel Elie experience physical, mental, and spiritual pain, that test his humanity and morality. Firstly, physical pain. In the concentration camps the most important thing is to survive, and the only way to do that is to follow orders blindly and do not upset the officer in charge. But it appears that even if you don’t do anything, you still get in trouble, and the only reason is because the Kapo is in a bad mood. In the concentration camps, inmates are used to violence, violence surrounds them from everywhere, whether it be the guns on the guards’ shoulders, the whip in the Kapo’s hands, or simply the treatment of their fellow inmates. The camps turn humans into animals, making a son kill his own father over a piece of bread or some soup. Elie experiences the violence... ... middle of paper ... ...es the world today, these people always choose ignorance over reason. Most people choose ignorance as a defence mechanism to stop thinking about these problems, they don’t realize that by doing that they are becoming more indifferent and they lose one of the most important traits that makes them human, compassion. Without compassion humans would become animals and the world we live in would become a jungle. As Edmund Burke warned “all that is needed for the triumph of evil, is that good men do nothing”, he warns the whole world that if they do not stand up for evil, it will win. Elie Weisle also explains “ The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference”, meaning that if the world does not stop their ignorance, and start to show compassion to one another , they might as well say goodbye to their precious world because it’s not going to be around for very long.

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