Reflective Essay On Night By Elie Wiesel

The book Night, by Elie Wiesel, is a very short, personal book, about Elie’s experience of living through the holocaust and Auschwitz. To write this book, it didn’t require any research, Elie didn’t make any assumptions; he just told things as they were, from his personal experiences. Elie could have written more in this book, but then it would most likely be too much to handle, this book is already upsetting to read as it is. While reading this book, there is moments where you need to stop and set the book down for a moment, it is a lot to take in.
“NEVER SHALL I FORGET that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.
Never shall I forget that smoke.
Never shall I forget the small faces
“However, having survived, I needed to give some meaning to my survival. Was it to protect that meaning that I set to paper an experience in which nothing made sense?” (p. viii). Even though he wanted his story to be known, he knows that nobody could ever possibly fully feel what he, or anyone else, went through in Auschwitz. “Only those who experienced Auschwitz know what it was. Others will never know. But could they at least understand?” (p. ix). Sure, nobody could ever fully feel what it was like, but now people can at least have a better understanding of it. This book was very difficult for Elie Wiesel to write because sometimes words cannot explain things well enough.
“I also knew that, while I had many things to say, I did not have the words to say them. Painfully aware of my limitations, I watched helplessly as language became an obstacle. It became clear that it would be necessary to invent a new language. But how was one to rehabilitate and transform words betrayed and perverted by the enemy? Hunger-thirst-fear-transport-selection-fire-chimney: these words all have intrinsic meaning, but in those times, they meant something else” (p.