Nightfather by Carl Friedman

823 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How war affects society

Running and screaming. Burning and freezing. The survivors of the Holocaust have been through it all. Their stories describe each and every detail of the horrendous events they experienced. Although the book Nightfather is fiction, the stories described depict the actual Holocaust exactly. By dissecting the time period of Carl Friedman’s Nightfather, a reader can understand the elements of fiction and realize the impact of history on fictional literature.
This book takes place sometime during the 1960s after the Second World War. Some Germans would rather forget it ever happened than acknowledge the disgraceful events that took place during World War II “Adolf Eichmann's trial began on April 11, 1961 in Jerusalem, Israel. Eichmann was charged with 15 counts of crimes against the Jewish people, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and membership in a hostile organization” (“Eichmann Trial”). “The 1960s saw an upsurge in civil rights and other organizations promoting freedom and equality for blacks and women” (“Social Movements and Organizations”). Along with the war on poverty during this time, a war in Vietnam progressed as well. “Unfortunately, the War on Poverty was expensive–too expensive, especially as the war in Vietnam became the government’s top priority” (“The War in Vietnam”). The war on poverty was almost completely disregarded as the war in Vietnam continued. Funding the war in Vietnam was the main priority of the American government rather than helping the poor people of America become financially stable.
“NightFather, by Carl Friedman, is a book about an insane father / holocaust survivor, who tells his children gruesome survivor stories of his of his past” (“Nightfather101-Main Idea”). His children believe that t...

... middle of paper ...

...About.com 20th Century History. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2014. .
"NightFather 101." Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2014. .
"Holocaust Timeline: The Camps." Holocaust Timeline: The Camps. Web. 17 May 2014. . van den Berg, J.P.C., and H.P. van Coller. “Tydskrif Vir Letterkunde - Contextuality and the Transmission of Trauma: Nightfather by Carl Friedman." Tydskrif Vir Letterkunde - Contextuality and the Transmission of Trauma: Nightfather by Carl Friedman. Web. 20 May 2014. .
"The History Place - Genocide in the 20th Century: The Nazi Holocaust 1938-45." The History Place - Genocide in the 20th Century: The Nazi Holocaust 1938-45. Web. 20 May 2014. .
"Holocaust." - The Ghettos, Hiding Children, Hunting Children, Children in the Camps. Web. 20 May 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Examples Of Optimism In Night By Elie Wiesel

    572 Words  | 2 Pages

    Elie Wiesel once said, “Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair.” The book Night is a tragic story written by a holocaust survivor. It includes many of the things Jews endured in concentration camps, including the fact that many young women and children were burned in a crematorium simply because the Germans did not see them as fit enough to work. In Wiesel’s novel Night, Wiesel uses the motifs fear, silence, and optimism.

    Read More

  • Survival (on The Book Night)

    1188 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book Night is about the holocaust as experienced by Elie Weisel from inside the concentration camps. During World War II millions of innocent Jews were taken from their homes to concentration camps, resulting in the deaths of 6 million people. There were many methods of survival for the prisoners of the holocaust during World War II. In the book Night, there were three main modes of survival, faith, family, and food. From the examples in the book Night, faith proved to be the most successful in helping people survive the holocaust.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Imagery In Night By Elie Wiesel

    598 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Simon Wiesenthal: The Nazi Hunter

    1747 Words  | 4 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... Works Cited “About Simon Wiesenthal.” – Simon Wiesenthal Center. N.p., n.d. Web.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Night, by Elie Wiesel

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most historical events, whether beneficial or detrimental to society, bear witnesses. Regardless of how many total were affected by the event, each person owns a personal account of what they endured during the event. Elie Wiesel, author of Night, expresses the personal account of Elizer, a Jewish teenager, who fought to stay alive during the holocaust, and shows the importance of witness accounts, the will to survive, and the remembrance of past historical events. Night encompasses the idea of “Literature of Witness” by simultaneously showing how millions of people were affected by the holocaust and how each person, principally Elizer, has their own personal story to tell to understand and remember that horrendous time.

    Read More

  • Faith and Family in Elie Wiesel's Night

    961 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Night" by Elie Wiesel is a terrifying account of the Holocaust during World War II. Throughout this book we see a young Jewish boy's life turned upside down from his peaceful ways. The author explores how dangerous times break all social ties, leaving everyone to fight for themselves. He also shows how one's survival may be linked to faith and family.

    Read More

  • Elie Wiesel Dehumanization In Night

    805 Words  | 2 Pages

    Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, is an account about his experience through concentration camps and death marches during WWII. In 1944, fifteen year old Wiesel was one of the many Jews forced onto cattle cars and sent to death and labor camps. Their personal rights were taken from them, as they were treated like animals. Millions of men, women, children, Jews, homosexuals, Gypsies, disabled people, and Slavic people had to face the horrors the Nazi’s had planned for them. Many people witnessed and lived through beatings, murders, and humiliations. Throughout the memoir, Wiesel demonstrates how oppression and dehumanization can affect one’s identity by describing the actions of the Nazis and how it changed the Jewish

    Read More

  • Loss of Faith and Religion in Ellie Wiesel’s Night

    1731 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Holocaust survivor Abel Herzberg has said, “ There were not six million Jews murdered; there was one murder, six million times.” The Holocaust is one of the most horrific events in the history of mankind, consisting of the genocide of Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, mentally handicapped and many others during World War II. Adolf Hitler was the leader of Nazi Germany, and his army of Nazis and SS troops carried out the terrible proceedings of the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel is a Jewish survivor of the Nazi death camps, and suffers a relentless “night” of terror and torture in which humans were treated as animals. Wiesel discovers the “Kingdom of Night” (118), in which the history of the Jewish people is altered. This is Wiesel’s “dark time of life” and through his journey into night he can’t see the “light” at the end of the tunnel, only continuous dread and darkness. Night is a memoir that is written in the style of a bildungsroman, a loss of innocence and a sad coming of age. This memoir reveals how Eliezer (Elie Wiesel) gradually loses his faith and his relationships with both his father (dad), and his Father (God). Sickened by the torment he must endure, Wiesel questions if God really exists, “Why, but why should I bless him? Because he in his great might, had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death? (67). Throughout the Holocaust, Wiesel’s faith is not permanently shattered. Although after his father dies, his faith in god and religion is shaken to the core, and arguably gone. Wiesel, along with most prisoners, lose their faith in God. Wiesel’s loss of religion becomes the loss of identity, humanity, selfishness, and decency.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Inhumanity In Night By Elie Wiesel

    721 Words  | 2 Pages

    Authors sometimes refer to their past experiences to help cope with the exposure to these traumatic events. In his novel Night, Elie Wiesel recalls the devastating and horrendous events of the Holocaust, one of the world’s highest points for man’s inhumanity towards man, brutality, and cruel treatment, specifically towards the Jewish Religion. His account takes place from 1944-1945 in Germany while beginning at the height of the Holocaust and ending with the last years of World War II. The reader will discover through this novel that cruelty is exemplified all throughout Wiesel's, along with the other nine million Jews’, experiences in the inhumane concentration camps that are sometimes referred to as “death factories.”

    Read More

  • Three Aspects of Night by Elie Wiesel

    514 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • What Is The Differences Between Night And A Long Way Gone By Elie Wiesel

    1802 Words  | 4 Pages

    Some of the most fabled stories of our time come from individuals overcoming impossible odds and surviving horrific situations. This is prevalent throughout the Holocaust. People are fascinated with this event in history because the survivors had to overcome immense odds. One, of many, of the more famous stories about the Holocaust is Night by Elie Wiesel. Through this medium, Wiesel still manages to capture the horrors of the camps, despite the reader already knowing the story.

    Read More

  • Elie Wiesel as a Survivor of the Holocaust

    2015 Words  | 5 Pages

    "The Holocaust." World War II Reference Library. Ed. Barbara C. Bigelow, et al. Vol. 1:

    Read More

  • Elie Wiesel's Night

    880 Words  | 2 Pages

    The tragedies of the Holocaust forever altered history. One of the most detailed accounts of the horrific events of the Nazi regime comes from Elie Wiesel’s Night. He describes his traumatic experiences in German concentration camps, mainly Buchenwald, and engages his readers from a victim’s point of view. He bravely shares the grotesque visions that are permanently ingrained in his mind. His autobiography gives readers vivid, unforgettable, and shocking images of the past.

    Read More

  • A Survivor Of The Holocaust In Elie Wiesel's Night

    498 Words  | 1 Pages

    Throughout his other works, the Holocaust looms as the shadow, the central but unspoken mystery in the life of his protagonists. Even pre-Holocaust events are seen as warnings of impending doom. In Night he narrates his own experience as a young boy transported to Auschwitz where suffering and death shattered his faith in both God and humanity. Night is widely considered a classic of Holocaust literature.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of The Holocaust And The Congolese Genocide

    1133 Words  | 3 Pages

    History aims to examine the actions and legacy of mankind. The past is filled with the achievements that humans have reached, however, history also shows us the evil that man is capable of. No atrocity against mankind is more heinous than the act of genocide. Genocide is the aim to destroy all (or part of) of a racial, religious, ethnic, or national group of people. This paper will examine two famous cases of genocide in history: The holocaust of Jews and other groups in Nazi Germany, and the destruction of the Congolese people under Belgian colonialism. The Holocaust remains as one of the main legacies of Hitler and the Nazi party, who claimed an estimated 11 million victims, 6 million of which were Jews. Comparatively, the Congolese Genocide

    Read More

More about Nightfather by Carl Friedman

Open Document