What Makes Elie And Morrie Unique

Throughout Elie Wiesel’s Night and Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie, the reader is given raw and valuable insight as to what adversity really is and the different ways people handle it. Elie Wiesel’s Night is the biographical story of a young boy’s struggles as he tries to grow up in the middle of a concentration camp. In the story Tuesdays with Morrie, the reader follows Morrie Schwartz, a whimsical man dying of ALS, whose last wish is to teach others how to love. Both of these men know misery. Their stories share the vulnerable truth of how horrible life can be sometimes; however, these are not sad stories. Both Elie and Morrie demonstrate how one person can change their own life. These men are dealt horrible cards, but by overcoming

adversity through loving others and never giving up, their stories have happy endings.
Kevin Conroy is quoted stating, “Everyone is handed adversity in life.

No one’s journey is easy. It’s how they handle it that makes people unique.” However, millions of people died in the Holocaust and more than 5,600 people die of ALS each year. So what made Elie and Morrie unique? The answer is in their hearts. Morrie Shwartz truly believes that all things are possible if people love one another. Throughout Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie gives tips and tricks on how to live a meaningful life. One recommendation overshadows all others, “Love each other or perish” (Albom 149). Morrie’s entire life philosophy was based on love. This love that Morrie had for others can be compared to Elie’s love for his father. Elie stayed with his father no matter what. Many times throughout Night, Elie questioned whether or not it was worth it to stay with his father. However, all the questioning meant nothing. Elie’s love for his father outweighed all his doubts. Elie risks his own survival so that he can help his father. On page 99 of Night, Elie fights off Nazi guards that are trying to take away his father (Weisel 99). Elie was willing to risk everything to give his father more time on Earth. The love shown by both Morrie and Elie is so human. It is powerful, and it kept them both going through their hard

times.
Elie and Morrie never gave up. They both struggled to make it through each day, but they kept going. This never-ending push of hope is a light; their faith is beautiful. Throughout Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie bed symbolizes all the bad things in his life. He even states at one point, “When you’re in bed, you’re dead” (Albom 131). In spite of this, he stills sleeps in it each night. Morrie bed is a sign of weakness, but he understands that it is a part of him. He lets go of that resentment and pushes on. Elie does the same thing throughout Night. The night time is horrible for the Jews. When the book begins, night is a time of unknowing, as the book progresses however, the night gets worse and worse. At one point, Elie states that he can no longer tell night from day (Weisel 100). Nonetheless, Elie marched on. He pushed through all those horrible nights and finally found the light.
Both Morrie Shwartz and Elie Weisel have beautiful and heart wrenching stories of adversity. They turn horrible aspects of their life into something meaningful by showing everlasting love and refusing to give up. They understand that out of misery comes the promise of better days. By overcoming adversity, Morrie and Elie turned hate into love.