Night vs. Life is Beautiful
“The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think” (Walpole, n.d.). In Elie Wiesel’s novel Night (2006), he revisits his childhood as a Holocaust prisoner. He and his dad sustain one another; however, when Elie is faced with reality his faith in God diminishes. Similarly in the movie “Life is Beautiful” (2000), there is a strong bond between father and son as they endure the horrors of the Holocaust. The movie follows the story of a young Joshua and how his father, Guido, uses humor to protect his innocence. In the novel Night and in the movie “Life is Beautiful,” the Holocaust is portrayed both similarly and differently through God’s provision, self preservation, and the father/son relationship.
God grants protection and small acts of relief to father and son in both Night and Life is Beautiful. In Night, Elie reflects on the unexpected kindness him and his dad received while traveling from camp to camp. They were both placed under Jewish Kapo who did not hector the prisoners, but showed them mercy. This Kommando
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involved less strenuous work in an electrical warehouse where Elie was able to make acquaintance with a French girl who gave him will to survive (Wiesel, 2006). Within these camps, God kept Elie and his father together so that they could continue to sustain one another. With one another they were able to escape the dangers of losing hope and endure the physical and mental strains of selection. Furthermore, Joshua and Guido were also able to stay with each other in camp. In hopes of shielding his son from the reality of the Holocaust, Guido convinced Joshua their placement in the concentration camp was a jocular game of sorts (“Life is Beautiful,” 2000). God kept Joshua’s innocence preserved and put light on the darkness of their experience. God intervened in order to protect these men and keep their eyes on Him. Man’s sin nature encourages the preservation of only himself, even at the cost of others lives. In the novel Night Elie struggles to find people among to hoi polloi who are not only filled with selfish intentions. Through every camp, Elie finds that the prisoners are willing to go to any extreme to protect themselves. The idea of family loses its value as he watches Rabbi Eliahou’s son intentionally leave his fathers to ensure his own survival (Wiesel, 2006). On the contrary, in the movie “Life is Beautiful,” Joshua and Guido room with prisoners willing to protect Joshua. They allowed the young boy to reside in their barracks during the day to avoid discovery from the Germans (“Life is Beautiful,” 2000). A man who made acquaintance with Guido helped to convince Joshua that this was all a game. These men could have easily given up Joshua to the guards in order to secure their protection, but they refused because they weren’t only looking to advance themselves but rather to protect one another. Through both fathers and sons experiences we see the best and worst of man’s nature. The father and son relationship in the novel and movie are adherently different; however, both fathers never stray from their duty to protects their sons. In the movie “Life is Beautiful,” Guido continually puts his life as risk so that his son may live, he eventually faces death in the act of protecting his wife and son (“Life is Beautiful,” 2000). No matter the cost, he is willing to put on a brave front for his so that he may not waver in his faith or lose hope. Within the game he convinced Joshua of, he was never exposed to the true intentions of the camps. Because of Guido’s sacrifice, both in life and death, he was able to stop the Holocaust from robbing his son’s childhood. Moreover, Elie and his father both sought to protect one another equally in Night. Even though his father had been the one to encourage Elie and give hope, he soon became weak physically and mentally, making him incapable of also sustaining Elie. The novel shows Elie’s fall to sin nature when he begins to resent the responsibility his father had become. He was no longer only fighting for himself, but also for his father’s life. Elie feared for his own life so greatly he made no effort to comfort his father or protest as the soldiers beat him on his deathbed (Wiesel, 2006). Through their horrific experiences as prisoners both father and son had a responsibility to each other, however, without each other they lose all will to fight for survival. Elie Wiesel’s novel Night and the movie “Life is Beautiful” are both remarkable testaments to God’s provisions even in places of unending darkness.
In Psalm 84:11 David says,”For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly (ESV). The prisoners who lost faith let every temptation of the ease of death consume them; all the same, those who clung to their faith never let hope stray. In places of darkness man fall to the selfishness of sin nature, regarding the needs of themselves far superior than those of others, even family. And though Guido was able to see Joshua out to the end, Elie found himself unable to continue fighting for both himself and his father after losing all hope in humanity. Night and “Life is Beautiful” depict the unforgettable horrors of the Holocaust, yet with distinctly different
perspectives. References Walpole, H. (n.d.). Quoteland. Retrieved March 26, 2017, from http://www.quoteland.com/author/Horace-Walpole-Quotes/1059/ Life is Beautiful [Motion picture on DVD]. (2000). Miramax Home Entertainment. Wiesel, E. (2006). Night. New York, NY : Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ESV: study Bible: English standard version. (2007). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
Elie Wiesel writes about his personal experience of the Holocaust in his memoir, Night. He is a Jewish man who is sent to a concentration camp, controlled by an infamous dictator, Hitler. Elie is stripped away everything that belongs to him. All that he has worked for in his life is taken away from him instantly. He is even separated from his mother and sister. On the other side of this he is fortunate to survive and tell his story. He describes the immense cruel treatment that he receives from the Nazis. Even after all of the brutal treatment and atrocities he experiences he does not hate the world and everything in it, along with not becoming a brute.
Night by Elie Wiesel was a memoir on one of the worst things to happen in human history, the Holocaust. A terrible time where the Nazi German empire started to take control of eastern Europe during WWII. This book tells of the terrible things that happened to the many Jewish people of that time. This time could easily change grown men, and just as easily a boy of 13. Elie’s relationship with God and his father have been changed forever thanks to the many atrocities committed at that time.
In his memoir, Night, author Elie Wiesel describes the horrors he experienced during the Holocaust. One prominent theme throughout the work is the evolution of human relationships within the camp, specifically between fathers and sons. While they are marching between camps, Elie speaks briefly with Rabbi Eliahu, who lost sight of his son on the long journey. Elie says he has not seen the rabbi’s son, but after Rabbi Eliahu leaves, he remembers seeing the son. He realizes that the rabbi’s son did not lose track of his father but instead purposefully ran ahead thinking it would increase his chances of survival. Elie, who has abandoned nearly all of his faith in God, cannot help but pray, saying, “ ‘ Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done’ ” (Wiesel 91). In this moment, his most fervent hope is that he will remain loyal to his father and not let his selfishness overcome his dedication to his father. However, he is soon no longer able to maintain this hope.
A story of a young boy and his father as they are stolen from their home in Transylvania and taken through the most brutal event in human history describes the setting. This boy not only survived the tragedy, but went on to produce literature, in order to better educate society on the truth of the Holocaust. In Night, the author, Elie Wiesel, uses imagery, diction, and foreshadowing to describe and define the inhumanity he experienced during the Holocaust.
In Eliezer Wiesel’s novel “Night”, it depicts the life of a father and son going through the concentration camp of World War II. Both Eliezer and his father are taken from their home, where they would experience inhuman and harsh conditions in the camps. The harsh conditions caused Eliezer and his father’s relationship to change. During their time in the camps, Eliezer Wiesel and his father experience a reversal of their roles. Upon entering the concentration camps, Eliezer and his father demonstrate a normal father and son relationship.
Many themes exist in Night, Elie Wiesel’s nightmarish story of his Holocaust experience. From normal life in a small town to physical abuse in concentration camps, Night chronicles the journey of Wiesel’s teenage years. Neither Wiesel nor any of the Jews in Sighet could have imagined the horrors that would befall them as their lived changed under the Nazi regime. The Jews all lived peaceful, civilized lives before German occupation. Eliezer Wiesel was concerned with mysticism and his father was “more involved with the welfare of others than with that of his own kin” (4). This would change in the coming weeks, as Jews are segregated, sent to camps, and both physically and emotionally abused. These changes and abuse would dehumanize men and cause them to revert to basic instincts. Wiesel and his peers devolve from civilized human beings to savage animals during the course of Night.
The Holocaust will forever be known as one of the largest genocides ever recorded in history. 11 million perished, and 6 million of the departed were Jewish. The concentration camps where the prisoners were held were considered to be the closest one could get to a living hell. There is no surprise that the men, women, and children there were afraid. One was considered blessed to have a family member alongside oneself. Elie Wiesel was considered to be one of those men, for he had his father working side by side with him. In the memoir Night, by Elie Wiesel, a young boy and his father were condemned to a concentration camp located in Poland. In the concentration camps, having family members along can be a great blessing, but also a burden. Elie Wiesel shows that the relationship with his father was the strength that kept the young boy alive, but was also the major weakness.
“Even in darkness, it is possible to create light”(Wiesel). In Night, a memoir by Elie Wiesel, the author, as a young boy who profoundly believed in his religion, experiences the life of a prisoner in the Holocaust. He struggles to stay with his father while trying to survive. Through his experience, he witnesses the changes in his people as they fight each other for themselves. He himself also notices the change within himself. In Night, it is discovered that atrocities and cruel treatment can make decent people into brutes. Elie himself also shows signs of becoming a brute for his survival, but escapes this fate, which is shown through his interactions with his father.
The best teachers have the capabilities to teach from first hand experience. In his memoir, Night, Elie Wiesel conveys his grueling childhood experiences of survival to an audience that would otherwise be left unknown to the full terrors of the Holocaust. Night discloses mental and physical torture of the concentration camps; this harsh treatment forced Elie to survive rather than live. His expert use of literary devices allowed Wiesel to grasp readers by the hand and theatrically display to what extent the stress of survival can change an individual’s morals. Through foreshadowing, symbolism, and repetition, Wiesel’s tale proves that the innate dark quality of survival can take over an individual.
"Through love, through hope, and faith's transcendent dower, we feel that we are greater than we know."- William Wordsworth. As stated in this quote, when we have something to hope for, and someone showing us love, we are capable of many things. In the movie Life is Beautiful and the book Night love and hope are the only things that keep the characters alive. This is shown through Elie and his father's relationship when his father reminds him of his fundamental feelings of love, compassion, and devotion to his family. Then Elie and his father look out for each other in hope to make it out the concentration camp alive. Love and hope are also shown in the movie Life is Beautiful when Guido and his son were taken to the concentration camp. Here, Guido's love for his son Josh, kept him alive. Dora, Guido's wife, shows persistent hope which ultimately leads to being reunited with Joshua. In both stories the hope that of rescue and the love that for each other gets the main characters through terrible times.
During the Holocaust many people were severely tortured and murdered. The holocaust caused the death of six million Jewish people, as well as the death of 5 million non-Jewish people. All of the people, who died during this time, died because of the Nazis’: a large hate group composed of extremely Ignoble, licentious, and rapacious people. They caused the prisoners to suffer physically and mentally; thus, causing them to lose all hope of ever being rescued. In the novel Night, by Elie Wiesel, Elie went through so much depression, and it caused him to struggle with surviving everyday life in a concentration camp. While Elie stayed in the concentration camp, he saw so many people get executed, abused, and even tortured. Eventually, Elie lost all hope of surviving, but he still managed to survive. This novel is a perfect example of hopelessness: it does not offer any hope. There are so many pieces of evidence that support this claim throughout the entire novel. First of all, many people lost everything that had value in their life; many people lost the faith in their own religion; and the tone of the story is very depressing.
A simple act of kindness and support can possibly be the savior to someone else’s misery. In the novel, Night, written by Eliezer Wiesel, Elie portrays the daily lifestyle of the Jews during the Holocaust, and shares his personal experiences. He goes through hardships as he travels from the ghettos to the concentration camps with his one and only family member remaining, his father. The S.S. soldiers take the author’s mother and his two sisters away from him as they arrive at the ghetto because they separating women from men. Throughout the novel, Elie experiences personality adaptations and loses his faith in God all due to the loss of humanity in his world. With this in mind, he bases his survival on his determination and not his luck. Eliezer survives the Holocaust as a result to the hope he provides for his father and the support he receives from others throughout his journey.
Many different responses have occurred to readers after their perusal of this novel. Those that doubt the stories of the holocaust’s reality see Night as lies and propaganda designed to further the myth of the holocaust. Yet, for those people believing in the reality, the feelings proffered by the book are quite different. Many feel outrage at the extent of human maliciousness towards other humans. Others experience pity for the loss of family, friends, and self that is felt by the Holocaust victims.
Elie’s loss of innocence and childhood lifestyle is very pronounced within the book, Night. This book, written by the main character, Elie Wiesel, tells the readers about the experiences of Mr. Wiesel during the Holocaust. The book starts off by describing Elie’s life in his hometown, Sighet, with his family and friends. As fascism takes over Hungary, Elie and his family are sent north, to Auschwitz concentration camp. Elie stays with his father and speaks of his life during this time. Later, after many stories of the horrors and dehumanizing acts of the camp, Elie and his father make the treacherous march towards Gliewitz. Then they are hauled to Buchenwald by way of cattle cars in extremely deplorable conditions, even by Holocaust standards. The book ends as Elie’s father is now dead and the American army has liberated them. As Elie is recovering in the hospital he gazes at himself in a mirror, he subtly notes he much he has changed. In Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie loses his innocence and demeanour because he was traumatized by what he saw in the camps, his loss of faith in a God who stood idly by while his people suffered, and becoming selfish as he is forced to become selfish in the death camps to survive.
...e has to deal with the death of his family, the death of his innocence, and the death of his God at the very young age of fifteen. He retells the horrors of the concentration camp, of starvation, beatings, torture, illness, and hard labor. He comes to question how God could let this happen and to redefine the existence of God in the concentration camp. This book is also filled with acts of kindness and compassion amid the degradation and violence. It seems that for every act of violence that is committed, Elie counteracts with some act of compassion. Night is a reflection on goodness and evil, on responsibility to family and community, on the struggle to forge identity and to maintain faith. It shows one boy's transformation from spiritual idealism to spiritual death via his journey through the Nazi's failed attempt to conquer and erase a people and their faith.