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Violence In Elie Wiesel's Night

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“Nobody paid attention to them.” In a place of torment for millions, there is no “we”. Times of misery typically bring grief for oneself and others and create a sense of unity. But the continuous agony inflicted by the Holocaust stripped the prisoners of their human compassion. Apathy replaced states of sympathy and empathy, and desensitization enveloped the camps. Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night shows how desensitization leads to a state of indifference towards violence enacted upon others through the use of man vs. society conflict, situational irony, and imagery. The consistent nature of the conflicts between a prisoner and the twisted society around them creates an indifference to the violence brought upon others. For instance, on the train …show more content…
In the later part of his imprisonment, Wiesel panics about one of the many selections, feeling predestined to fail because of his below average physical state. His name absent from the list because he ran by so fast, he rejoices with Yossi and Tibi (younger prisoners like himself) reliving the moment in his memoir, “‘I began to laugh. I was happy. I felt like kissing him. At that moment, the others did not matter!’” (p. 72). Wiesel’s joyous behavior during a time of misery for those who had not passed the selection depicts how he has become accustomed to the death around him, no longer burdened with grief. His acceptance also shows his lack of sympathy for those sentenced to the furnace. In the labor camp, Wiesel’s youth attracts the advice of the “veterans” of the camp and they “grabbed the opportunity for further sniggering” exclaiming to Wiesel and the other young prisoners,“‘Now you’ll really get a taste of camp!’“ (p. 77). This shows that the veterans of the camp have grown so used to the violence around them that the prospect of others suffering brings laughter instead of an expected sympathetic behavior. This behavior also reveals that the veterans know about the violence the young men will endure but still don’t pity or empathize with the youth. In summary, the prisoners begin to show their indifference towards the violence enacted upon others through their ironic

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