Night By Elie Wiesel example essay topic

Elie Wiesel's Night Eliezer Wiesel was one of the few Jews that escaped Hitler's evil hand during World War II. There are only a handful of novels that accurately depict the fate of those persecuted, and Night should be at the top of this list. Regarded by many as the memoir of the terror to read, teachers spanning the globe have presented this book to their students. The systematic extermination of the Jewish people all over Europe was unknown until after the war, and even then the horror could only be expressed through pictures and bits of accounts by prisoners. For over thirty years the general public was privy to few facts about the dreadfulness, until Night was published in 1982. It changed the way many people thought about the Holocaust, finally presenting a historically accurate account of the mass homicide of the Jewish people.

In Sighet, Transylvania, a fourteen-year-old boy began studying Jewish theology as World War II began. Eliezer Wiesel began his lessons against his father's advice; his father thought that he was too young. The Jews in his small town believed that they were beyond the reach of Adolph Hitler and the Fascists, but they were mistaken. After the non-Hungarians were deported and taken to a concentration camp, one of the townspeople escaped, immediately returning to Sighet to warn the residents. He described the horrific violence that he had seen, but the people refused to believe him. They thought that he just wanted attention, or perhaps insane.

Until 1943, they continued on with their lives, living normally. Even after the Fascists come to power, the townspeople remained optimistic. Germany invaded Hungary in 1944 and the German army arrived in Sighet. Elie's father refused to take his family and attempt an escape from Joseph, A 2 the country. The persecution of the Jews began on Passover that year. For three days they were forbidden from leaving their homes; after they were allowed they were forced to wear a yellow star on their clothes.

The Jews were ushered into two ghettos, but people still lived normal lives, remaining hopeful. Summoned to a Jewish Council meeting, Elie's father hears terrible news: all the Jews would be deported. Elie ran to awaken his neighbors and all began to pack for the journey. His family was scheduled to leave in the last convey and they were moved into a smaller ghetto. An old family servant, Martha, offered to hide them in the country, but they refused to be separated. The remaining townspeople were herded into the synagogue; the next day the prisoners were forced to crowd into cattle wagons.

The cars on the train were so packed that people had to take turns sitting down. A woman on the train begins to lose her mind, screaming about a furnace engulfed by flames in the distance. She frightens the other occupants and they try to silence by gagging and beating. After the train arrived at Auschwitz / Brikenau, the prisoners saw the flaming furnace that she had prophesied. Elie's family was separated, but he managed to stay close to his father. They marched past Dr. Menge le, an SS officer, who selected those that would live and those that would go to the crematorium.

Elie's group was told that they were to die, and every step was filled with dread. At the last moment, the line of men turned from the flaming chimney. While the veteran prisoners and SS guards pummeled them, they were forced to strip, run, bathe and redress. They were then marched to Auschwitz. The prisoners were given rations-a plate of soup- and then told to sleep.

For several weeks they followed a tight schedule of roll-call, sleep, and meals. They were then transferred to Buna, Joseph, A 3 where Elie is placed in the musician's work block, a good unit. They began to receive smaller rations, and when the air-raid siren went off, two cauldrons of soup were left out and one man, starving, died with his face in the soup. They were locked down when the sirens erupted, still hoping the Germany would soon be defeated.

Eliezer's foot swelled up from the cold during the winter, and he had to go to the hospital for an operation. There he was warned to escape before the next selection because all invalids were sent to the crematory. Although he panics, the doctor tells him that he would be able to walk in two weeks. The camp was evacuated soon after, because the Russian army was approaching. The prisoners ran more than forty miles without a rest. Guards shot those that fell behind, and others were trampled by the crowd.

When they are allowed to stop, Elie and his father kept each other awake to prevent dying in the snow. They arrived at Gleiwitz, where the people were herded into barracks so crowded that they were piled on each other. After the next selection, those remaining were forced into cattle cars with one hundred to a wagon. Men began dying in the car from exhaustion, thirst, and hunger.

They were not fed for ten days; the prisoners became lions when German workmen threw pieces of bread inside the car for entertainment. Elie began to be indifferent to life and death, along with the majority of prisoners. Arriving at Buchenwald, most of the men, including his father, were too weak to live any longer. At the barrack, he is attacked by bunkmates for his rations; one night his father calls out for water, and an SS guard shattered his skull. He did not die, but his body is removed the next day. There was confusion in the camp when word of liberation was spread.

The Jews thought that they would be shot, but were evacuated from the camp by the thousands. The camp resistance Joseph, A 4 won a battle against the SS, and that night an American tank arrived. Thinking only of food, the prisoners forgot their wish of revenge. When Elie recovers from food poisoning in a hospital, he looks at himself in a mirror: the first time since the ghetto. He was shocked to see the eyes of a corpse looking at him. Night, by Elie Wiesel, is a true story written about one man's experiences during the Holocaust.

Historically accurate, the novel captures the reader's attention, presenting a first-hand account of the nightmare. There is no real plot to the story, relying only on facts to bring this amazing timetable of events together. The story dwells on the emotions of those reading it, hoping only to accomplish an understanding of the true horror of the German extermination of the Jews. This writer can only recommend that everyone in the world should read Wiesel's narrative, for it is truly one of a kind. This description of the Holocaust should be at the top of everyone's list of things to read.