Analytical Essay On Night By Elie Wiesel

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The distorted views of the once-innocent terror of the Nazis may have distorted the way Jews view the world around them. The memoir, Night by Elie Wiesel, illustrates his childhood experiences of abuse and hardships he faced from the Nazis. One day in Sighet, Wiesel and the community were sent to concentration camps. There, the Jews faced life-or-death situations, experiencing traumatic events such as family separation, which is illustrated in Elie Wiese’s life as he has to be separated from his mother and sisters. Yet with this tragic event, he finds a bond between himself and his father. In the concentration camps, Elie faces many adversities and is shaped because of those experiences. The Nazis impact the world around Elie and other Jews …show more content…

During their time in concentration camps, they experienced severe dehumanization due to the brutal treatment by the Kapo, prisoners appointed by the Nazis to enforce authority, showcasing the internal dehumanization of Jewish individuals. With the ethnic prejudices from the Nazis, they made veteran prisoners “[tattoo] numbers on [their] left arms [Elie becoming] A-7713" (Wiesel 42). Being marked with numbers showed Elie Wiesel and other Jews how they were dehumanized, treated like cattle, rounded up, and transported in overcrowded and inhumane conditions to concentration camps. This not only stripped them of their individuality, but also reminded them of their inferior status in the eyes of the Nazis. This connects to another part of identity for the Jewish prisoners: how many personal sentiments, like names, contribute to their individuality, along with “their clothes were to be thrown on the floor at the back of the barrack... [causing them to] tremble in the cold" (Wiesel 35). The dehumanization experienced by Elie and many Jews illustrates the loss of identity they’ve gone through in the concentration