Themes In Night By Ellie Wiesel

In the book, Night by Ellie Wiesel, this book Ellie documents his experiences before the Holocaust and in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. In this book, Ellie Wiesel discusses his experiences, some of these experiences changes Ellie as a person physically and mentally. Although Ellie Wiesel has experienced horrible things, he has been able to deal and survive through these horrible experiences.

An experience Ellie Wiesel experienced was the death of a father and son over a piece of bread crust. The book Night by Ellie Wiesel states, “‘Meir, my little Meir! Don’t you recognize me . . . You’re killing your father . . . I have bread . . . for you too . . . for you too . . .’ He collapsed. But his fist was still clutching a small crust. He wanted to raise it to his mouth. But the other threw himself on him. The old man mumbled something, groaned, and died. Nobody cared. His son searched him, took the crust of bread, and began to devour it. He didn’t get far. Two men have been watching him. They jumped him. Others joined in. When they withdrew, there were two dead bodied next

to me, the father and the son.” (Pages 101-102) This quote illustrates the loss of humanity. Ellie has witnessed a son and a father die just for a small crusts of bread. The son even killed his father for the crust of bread, he didn’t even care when his father died. This experienced changed Ellie, because it made him realize how some people have lost their humanity and also lost their innocence. Ellie was able to survive this experience by not fighting for the crust of bread himself, even though he himself was also staving.
Furthermore, another experience Ellie Wiesel went through that brought change over him was the near death and death of his father. Ellie Wiesel’s memoir Night states, “I remained in Buchenwald until April 11. I shall not describe my life during that period. It no longer mattered. Since my father’s death, nothing mattered to me anymore” (page 113) This quote shows how the death of Ellie’s father impacted him. His father was his last living family member, he felt he had nothing else to live for. After his father’s death, he felt that he had nothing anymore. Nothing to live and care for. He is now forced to live alone, with no one to depend on. Ellie Wiesel was able to deal with and survive the experiencing his father’s death by living for himself. Before his father died, he had to constantly live and care for his father. Now, the only person he had to live and care for was himself.
Moreover, another experience Ellie Wiesel went through was beginning not to believe in God.

Ellie Wiesel’s memoir Night states, “I did not fast. First of all, to please my father who had forbidden me to do so. And then, there was no longer any reason for me to fast. I no longer accepted God’s silence. As I swallowed my ration of soup, I turned that act into a symbol of rebellion, of protest against Him. As I nibbled on my crust of bread. Deep inside me, I felt a great void opening.” (Page 69) This quote shows how Ellie no longer follows his religion, he has lost faith in god. He was supposed to fast for God, but now he doesn’t fast because he cares more about his life now. Before the Holocaust, Ellie was highly religious, he would worship god. Now, since he’s in a concentration camp, he has lost hope. He now questions god, questioning why god would put them into this horrible

place.
In my opinion, this book was emotional and made me realize how cruel the world can be. I’ve always thought things like the Holocaust wasn’t very server, hurting and torturing so many people. This book has opened my eyes and has shown me how people are ruthless and how people that are affected change because of these horrible experiences.