Research Paper on Night

1. After Eliezer’s father was beaten by Idek, a Kapo, Eliezer says, "I had watched the whole scene without moving. I kept quiet. In fact I was thinking of how to get farther away so that I would not be hit myself. What is more, any anger I felt at that moment was directed, not against the Kapo, but against my father. I was angry with him, for not knowing how to avoid Idek’s outbreak. That is what concentration camp life had made of me." Discuss what the last line signifies. Discuss how his attitude had changed.

ANSWER:

"I had watched the whole scene without moving. I kept quiet. In fact I was thinking of how to get farther away so that I would not be hit myself. What is more, any anger I felt at that moment was directed, not against the Kapo, but against my father. I was angry with him, for not knowing how to avoid Idek’s outbreak. That is what concentration camp life had made of me." In the novel Night, Elie Wiesel recounts his experience as a young Jewish boy during the Holocaust. The Jews were captured and taken to concentration camps by German soldiers. There they were tortured, beaten, and starved. Over time they were dehumanized and transformed into savage animals, solely focused on survival. This instinct-driven transformation introduced an “every-man-for-himself” mentality to the Jews, causing many children to cast off their fathers in order to benefit their own survival. Though he held on longer than most, Eliezer was one of those children.

Throughout the course of Eliezer’s “stay” in Auschwitz something changed within him. He was no longer the same thoughtful, religious young man as he was before the Holocaust. Eliezer, like many other of the Jews in these concentration camps, had been completely dehumanized by the Nazis. Even as he watched a Kapo beat down his father he could only feel anger towards him “for not knowing to avoid Idek’s outbreak” (Wiesel 54). After Eliezer describes his father’s beating he states: “That is what concentration camp life had made of me”. This last line signifies the German soldier’s dehumanization of the Jewish people. The Nazis pushed the Jews to a point where they no longer felt pain (emotional or physical) for anyone else. They were focused on themselves and ONLY themselves, only caring about food and where they were going to sleep. This severe, inhumane treatment by the Nazis completely eliminated the Jews compassion, individuality, and humanity.