Eliezer Wiesel is the author of the memoir “Night”, a book describing the Holocaust from the perspective of fifteen year old Wiesel. The story begins in Sighet, Transylvania as Wiesel is forced from his homeland by the Nazis to Auschwitz and later transferred to Buchwald. Here Wiesel, still an innocent, impressionable young man, undergoes a horrific journey in which his only goal is to survive. His experiences of hopelessness, inhumanity, human suffering, and death in the concentration camps caused Wiesel to go through a transformation. This transformation is best seen in the last paragraph of the book:
“One day I was able to get up, after gathering all my strength, I wanted to see myself in the mirror hanging on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me.” (Wiesel 77)
From this quote we can see that Wiesel’s experiences in the concentration camp will forever haunt him, but it’s these very experiences that make up his identity. Wiesel’s initial innocence before Auschwitz dissipates as he quickly realizes the cruelty of mankind, which in turn causes Wiesel to publish his memoir, “Night”, in 1956. Wiesel incorporates his experiences in the concentration camps throughout the book and even uses night to show the reader when he has lost hope. Eliezer Wiesel’s main purpose in writing “Night” was to use his experiences from the Holocaust to remind the world of the cruelty of mankind. The main character of “Night” is none other than Eliezer Wiesel. In this novel, Wiesel undergoes a change from when he was in Sighet to after the Holocaust. In the beginning of the book Wiesel is deeply invested in his religion (“During the day I studied the Talmud, and at night I ran to the synagogue to weep…” Wiesel 1). This quickly changed as Wiesel sees the human suffering in Auschwitz and questions his God because of it. This questioning eventually led to Wiesel revoking his religion, causing a loss of identity since religion was so big in his life. Now that Wiesel has rejected God his only motivation now is his father, Shlomo, as he traverses Auschwitz and Buchwald. Another thing that changed in Wiesel’s transformation is his view on the world. When Wiesel moves to Auschwitz, he starts to realize the reality of the situation. Wiesel realizes how ruthless mankind can be and it forever changes Wiesel as it inspires him to write this book. Wiesel even has his own symbol, night, in order to tell the readers when he is about to lose hope. This symbol is used in multiple scenes including Mrs. Schachter visions of the fire, their arrival at Auschwitz, and Wiesel’s father’s death. Wiesel’s character often had some sort of conflict throughout the book. The external conflict he has to deal with is the Holocaust and he deals with this by trying to survive. This is a major element of the story as it adds tension between the reader and the text until the climax when he is liberated from Buchwald. Wiesel’s internal conflict is between him and his God. When Wiesel is in the concentration camp he couldn’t understand why God would let these people suffer. In the end he resolves this conflict by revoking his religion which ties …show more content…
I really liked the evocative detail Wiesel used when describing his experiences in the concentration camps. This aspect made the story more realistic and allowed me to connect to the characters better. I especially connected to Wiesel because he often questioned his God’s authority and existence as I do sometimes. The strength of this book is that it cuts straight to the point. The Holocaust was a terrible event in history and is nothing short of what the book describes. Because of this, the book evokes emotion from its reader and makes more realistic. I would definitely recommend this book because it is important to realize what happened during the Holocaust.
In conclusion, Eliezer Wiesel’s main goal in writing this memoir is to remind the reader of the atrocities of the Holocaust and the extent of mankind’s cruelty. Wiesel does a great job of keeping focus throughout the book by explaining his experiences in evocative
“One day I was able to get up, after gathering all my strength, I wanted to see myself in the mirror hanging on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me.” (Wiesel 77)
From this quote we can see that Wiesel’s experiences in the concentration camp will forever haunt him, but it’s these very experiences that make up his identity. Wiesel’s initial innocence before Auschwitz dissipates as he quickly realizes the cruelty of mankind, which in turn causes Wiesel to publish his memoir, “Night”, in 1956. Wiesel incorporates his experiences in the concentration camps throughout the book and even uses night to show the reader when he has lost hope. Eliezer Wiesel’s main purpose in writing “Night” was to use his experiences from the Holocaust to remind the world of the cruelty of mankind. The main character of “Night” is none other than Eliezer Wiesel. In this novel, Wiesel undergoes a change from when he was in Sighet to after the Holocaust. In the beginning of the book Wiesel is deeply invested in his religion (“During the day I studied the Talmud, and at night I ran to the synagogue to weep…” Wiesel 1). This quickly changed as Wiesel sees the human suffering in Auschwitz and questions his God because of it. This questioning eventually led to Wiesel revoking his religion, causing a loss of identity since religion was so big in his life. Now that Wiesel has rejected God his only motivation now is his father, Shlomo, as he traverses Auschwitz and Buchwald. Another thing that changed in Wiesel’s transformation is his view on the world. When Wiesel moves to Auschwitz, he starts to realize the reality of the situation. Wiesel realizes how ruthless mankind can be and it forever changes Wiesel as it inspires him to write this book. Wiesel even has his own symbol, night, in order to tell the readers when he is about to lose hope. This symbol is used in multiple scenes including Mrs. Schachter visions of the fire, their arrival at Auschwitz, and Wiesel’s father’s death. Wiesel’s character often had some sort of conflict throughout the book. The external conflict he has to deal with is the Holocaust and he deals with this by trying to survive. This is a major element of the story as it adds tension between the reader and the text until the climax when he is liberated from Buchwald. Wiesel’s internal conflict is between him and his God. When Wiesel is in the concentration camp he couldn’t understand why God would let these people suffer. In the end he resolves this conflict by revoking his religion which ties …show more content…
I really liked the evocative detail Wiesel used when describing his experiences in the concentration camps. This aspect made the story more realistic and allowed me to connect to the characters better. I especially connected to Wiesel because he often questioned his God’s authority and existence as I do sometimes. The strength of this book is that it cuts straight to the point. The Holocaust was a terrible event in history and is nothing short of what the book describes. Because of this, the book evokes emotion from its reader and makes more realistic. I would definitely recommend this book because it is important to realize what happened during the Holocaust.
In conclusion, Eliezer Wiesel’s main goal in writing this memoir is to remind the reader of the atrocities of the Holocaust and the extent of mankind’s cruelty. Wiesel does a great job of keeping focus throughout the book by explaining his experiences in evocative