Ryan Prescott
Ms. Barron
April 4, 2013
“Night” Essay
Opposing Views on Survival in “Night”
In a time of need some people look to get help from others, while other people try to only look out for themselves. There are many other ways when faced with trouble, but when one boils it down these two are encompass most of the ideas. In the book Night by Wiesel it shows the differentiation of how people act when they arte close to death, or in a struggle. The book Night, along with the Bible, gives examples of either depending on the community or depending on oneself.
The first option that is seen in both the Bible and Night is to live as an individual. This was common for many Jews during the time of the Holocaust. This was the result of people not being able to trust one another, but also it shows people’s greed. Wiesel tells many stories about how people have been hardened to the point that they will do anything in order to help themselves. Elie Wiesel is faced with this problem when he has to take care of his father. He is given the advice, “listen to me, boy. Don’t forget that you are in a concentration camp. Here, every man has to fight for himself, and not think of others. Even of his father. Here there are no fathers, no brothers, no friends. Everyone lives and dies for himself alone.” (Wiesel 105). He starts to believe that he cannot help both of them survive, but only can help himself. He only believes this for short periods of time, but it shows that even the strongest minded could be broken. Another example of someone only looking out for themselves is when Elie is unable to find his father. He starts thinking, ““but at the same moment this thought came into my mind: Don’t let me find him! If only I could get rid of this dead weight, so that I could use all my strength to struggle for my own survival, and only worry about myself. Immediately I felt ashamed