The book I read for this assignment is Night by Elie Wiesel. Night is a memoir about Wiesel's horrific experiences at the German concentration camps Auschwitz and Buchenwald. In Night, there are two main conflicts. We see Wiesel struggle with his faith in god and his faith in humanity itself. In the beginning of the book, we get to see a bit of Elie's life. Elie is a 13-year-old Jewish boy living in Sighet, Transylvania. "By day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the temple" (20). Elie finds a mentor in Moshe the Beadle, a poor Hungarian immigrant that possesses a deep understanding of Jewish mysticism. Moshe and Elie pray together. Moshe the Beadle also helps Elie with his studies in …show more content…
This underlying feeling intensifies throughout the book. This happens specifically when all of the prisoners are sent on the "death march" because the Red army is inching closer to the camp and there are whispers of liberation. The prisoners are forced to run for days with no food, and their only source of water is the snow falling on them as they run. The Nazis shoot anyone that is running to slow, or anyone that falls to the ground. On this march, he sees his Rabbi's son abandon his father because keeping pace with his dad is putting them both at risk of being shot. So, he runs ahead of him while the Rabbi is not looking. The Rabbi does not notice, but Elie does. Later on the Rabbi is shot. Elie constantly debates with himself if he should abandon his father. There is a time that he gets separated from his father and while he is looking for him he thinks "If only I didn't find him…If only I could use all my strength to take care only of myself."(94). He instantly regrets the thoughts. At the end of the book when Wiesel's father falls sick with dysentery he often thinks about how it would be easier for him if his father would just die. One night his father hysterically calls out for Elie to bring him water. However, Elie does not bring him the water because one of the SS officers comes in and beats his father for being too loud. Once the officer leaves, Chlomo calls out for his son again but Elie …show more content…
I would say that I knew quite a bit about the holocaust before reading this book, from what I learned in class. But this memoir took that knowledge to a different level for me. Reading the account of Elie Wiesel was a very mind-opening experience. The atrocities that the Nazis afflicted upon the Jews are horrifying. Not only did they hurt them physically but they hurt them spiritually. They killed the Jewish people's relationships with god and made them doubt his existence. They made them hate their god. I felt a variety of emotions while reading this book. Mostly, disgust, sadness, and utter shock. Without personal testimonies from survivors such as Elie Wiesel, I don't think the world would be able to fully comprehend the severity of a tragedy such as the holocaust. I definitely think that it is a must-read, especially for anyone that is interested in hearing the stories of holocaust