The Role Of Violence In Elie Wiesel's 'Night'

In “Night” Elie and his father, Shlomo, endure a large magnitude of pain and suffering throughout their time in the concentration camps torturing them to the point of never returning to their original state of mind. Having been forced to walk for miles and work long days and long nights with no pay and looking death in the face day after day can ultimately drive a person to the point of insanity. There are similar events in history having to deal with a large mass of people being wrongfully evicted of their homes and relocated to poor, animal like conditions. Like the Japanese internment camps. In the US if you were 1/16th Japanese you would be sent to an internment camp where living conditions were that of pigs and horses.

Constant sanitation issues and food shortages continued to plague the camps and killed about two thousand people. With “Night” Elie and his father, Slomo, endured much worse than the japanese as discussed above Elie and Shlomo’s living quarters were unbearable with 3-4 people on one cot plaque spread like a wildfire decreasing the life span at the camp to 2-3 months. The violence wasn’t any help either with constant beatings and torture life was unbearable. Elie uses multiple literary devices to effectively show how violence can affect a person mentally and physically
In “Night” Elie has endured multiple acts of violence towards him, and towards others(including his father).

The overall effect to him as a human being is actually changing his entire mindset from time to time and even makes him think about suicide. His father, on the other hand, endures much more than Elie, even being beaten up because of Elies actions. In “Night” the author uses multiple literary devices to show how violence caused Elie to change his entire mindest and thought process, and along with his father causing him to contract an illness and become another victim of Hitler's rampage of hatred towards Jews. Zalman starts to complain about having some stomach issues, the pain is so unbearable that he falls to the ground and gets trampled over, death relieving him of his pain. “A small red flame… a short… Death enveloped me, it suffocated me. It stuck to me like glue… the idea of dying ceasing to be, began to fascinate me(86).” Elie uses personification and a metaphor to effectively show how he saw his friend die, and see that his pain was easily removed from him. After seeing Zalman die, he started to think of himself and how bad his foot ached, how all he had suffered and started to think about dying, the thought stuck to him like glue. He could be relieved of all his pain and suffering in an instant like a small red flame… a shot.. suicide could have been an

answer
Continuing, An old man had a piece of bread and ate it, but was attacked immediately after he was intending on secretly giving his sona piece but neither got the chance “his eyes lit up like a grimace illuminated his face and was immediately extinguished...this shadow threw himself over him(101-102).” It was his son that was attacking him, and eventually him and his son were killed.”there were two dead bodies next to me, the father and the son. I was sixteen(101-102).” Elie uses simile to show how even a small glimpse of happiness is immediately ripped away by the acts of violence against ones that get ahold of it. It affected Elie because he witnessed the fathers happiness, and how we wanted to give some to his son but the son only thought of himself(which is something Elie always guilted over when thought about) and in the end the son killed the father and they both ended up dead. He was only 16 when he saw this happened which is something he would've never thought he’d have to witness something so tragic as watching someone's son kill their own father. Elie in the end effectively showed how violence ultimately affected his 16 year old mind, the death of an acquaintance and the constant torture made him think of suicide, and a son killing his father over a crust of bread.

Shlomo has inevitably suffered more than Elie did, getting beat because of the actions Elie made, and overall just being not being “up to par” with the other prisoners.

In one instance when Idek is having another rampage, Shlomo is the victim of his wrath. “At first my father simply doubled over under the blows but then he seemed to break in two like an old tree struck by lighting(54)”. Elie uses a simile to effectively show how violently Shlomo was beaten, when Elie describes his father getting beaten saying he seemed to break in two he seemed to break in two like an old tree struck by lighting. It tells/shows the reader how badly Shlomo was being beaten and how he handled the blows strongly at first, seeming to “double over under the blows” but since he had already been beaten before this shows the weakening of his father starting to overcome him due to the constant violence he endures. When they finally reach the camp they’re exhausted especially Shlomo. He is extremely weak, the continuous beatings by the Kapo, the marching and long train ride, absence of food, and the exertion of his strength had brought him to one of his lowest points. “Let me rest here...no more strength… He had become childlike: weak, frightened, vulnerable(105).” Elie uses a simile in order to show the effects violence had on him mentally and physically Shlomo has been beat on countless times, and even bearing with the aftermath whilst marching for miles and not eating for days dramatically

took a major toll on him. Being beat on made him weak physically and mentally, frightened by the violence(possibly PTSD) and vulnerable to any and all incoming attacks do to his already frail body condition, it was as if Shlomo had become a child, unable to fend for himself and having to rely on Elie for his needs.
In recollection of the paragraphs above, Elie and Shlomo have been pushed to their lowest points, (Shlomo to the point of no return) and have endured situations deemed to be inhumane and ultimately ruthless. With the help of multiple literary devices, Elie was able to effectively show/tell the reader about the horrific acts of violence and how it dramatically affected their lives. “Night” is most similar to the short movie when Elie and Oprah visit Auschwitz. They both give valid information about the tormentation and suffering that occurred at the camp, the movie even gave us additional information in how they cut off all their hair to make cotton and clothes. Us as citizens have a responsibility to act accordingly in the face of violence. Us as citizens must act with and for each other to defend, prevent, and counter all and every act of violence. Violence is not always the answer to situations, but it should never be used in an unjust manner.