Camp Elie example essay topic

Looking back to any random time in history will most likely take one to a world of greediness, envy, and a desire to dominate another. The history of the world is plagued by mankind's inability to settle for what they have and who they are. Wars have been fought over religion, tradition, territory, and in this case, the idea that one race is superior to another. World War II was a horrible time in the world.

The First World War was "the war to end all wars" and yet chaos spread over Europe. Elie Wiesel's story, Night, is no exception. Elie was a Jewish prisoner who escaped the Nazi death camps. Night redefines what is a historically common theme of man's inhumanity to man. This theme is shown through the murder of a young boy, Elie's belief in God, and Elie's self-worth. The first display of Nazi inhumanity is the murder of a young child.

An Oberkapo and the boy (his assistant) were accused of blowing up a power plant on the camp. The man and boy were tortured and questioned and refused to give any information about the incident to the Nazi soldiers. The boy was described as "having the face of a sad angel" and was sentenced to be hanged. Everyone at the camp liked him and the SS officer in charge of the hanging refused his job and was replaced. The child was so light he hung for half and hour before actually dying. The prisoners had never cried for a victim before, however, they cried for the boy.

One man asked "Where is God now?" (62). Elie's belief in God diminished quickly during his time in the concentration camps. When the Jews first enter the camp, they are told by their elders: "You must never lose faith, even when the sword hangs over your head... we shall all see the day of liberation. Have faith in life. Above all else, have faith. Drive out despair, and you will keep death away from yourselves".

The Jews believe that in order to survive, they have to believe that survival is possible. Elie realizes he is only surrounded by death and inhumanity. After seeing the children burning in the crematory he questions his God saying, "Why should I bless His name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent.

What had I to thank Him for"? Elie finds faith in a just God hard when He allows concentration camps to even exist. The breaking point for Elie is the murder of the young boy. He ponders the question "Where is God?

Where is He? Here He is - He is here hanging on these gallows... ". (62).

Through the Nazi's relentless murder, they have managed to corrupt Elie's faith, the one thing that would keep him alive. The final result of the Nazi soldier's inhumanity can been seen through the Jewish people and Elie's self-worth. The story begins with the Jews viewing their segregation as a good thing. They believe they are now free of prejudice and can live amongst "brothers". This belief would soon be tarnished as the transition from humans to corpse evolves. At first they resist Nazi control.

"We " ve got to do something. We can't let ourselves be killed. We can't go like beasts to the slaughter. We " ve got to revolt". The Nazi camps wore down their spirits to the point in which they saw themselves as nothing more than bodies. After reaching the camp Elie tells a friend not to waste energy by crying.

He felt his fear being "replaced by an inhuman weariness". He described it as being numb from emotion, and "damned souls wondering the half-world". After being surrounded by death, starved, and beaten, Elie stated he "took little interest in anything except his daily plate of soup and crust of stale bread. Bread, soup, these were my life. I was a body. Perhaps less than that even: a starved stomach".

Through numerous events Elie describes himself as a corpse. He feels relieved when his father is finally killed, he doesn't even feel his body when he ran 43 miles in the snow with a wounded foot. Everyone around him had lost the will to live. At the end of the story Elie escapes death and the first time he looks into the mirror he said all he saw was a corpse.

Nazi Germany was nothing more than a living grave. Even the people who lived lost their soul throughout this horrible experience. War and death is never a good thing and are never justified. The horror of the Holocaust should never have been allowed to happen, however, as long as men are on earth, there will always be war and death.

Despite the traumatic outcome of World War II, mankind will never learn to live in peace.