Night By Elie Wiesel Analysis

720 Words2 Pages

Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night is the coming-of-age story of a boy facing the menacing terror of death that still holds relevance today, 70 years after the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the systematic genocide of Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II. Night tells of Wiesel’s experiences as a young boy deported and put in concentration camps. What we learn from these experiences about the Holocaust is still relevant today as people will forget and history will repeat itself, it will remind us of the dangers of indifference, and give meaning to the deaths of the victims. A gift from the past, a legacy only has value if it helps the future. In his book’s preface, Wiesel asks himself why he wrote his memoir, saying, “Was it to leave behind a legacy of words, of memories, to help …show more content…

This gift is meant to inform and influence others who read the book to learn about the Holocaust and, we hope, prevent future genocides. In his 2005 remarks at the Dedication of Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum, Wiesel comments on remembrance and the delivery of messages, saying, “But there is something more tragic than that: when the messenger has delivered the message and nothing has changed.” (3). Wiesel’s message is not a gift, if no one receives it. If we fail to act on his message, his story will fail to become a legacy. If we do not change, we risk history repeating itself. This risk becomes greater if we allow ourselves to become indifferent to human suffering. This is precisely what Wiesel warns us of in his speech The Perils of Indifference, delivered at the White House on April 12, 1999, in which he said, “Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment” (2). Being indifferent and therefore dehumanizing others is a delusion that hurts us. If we forget about others, then they forget about us and we too feel the effects of indifference we have brought upon

Open Document