Commentary On Night By Elie Wiesel

The night had passed completely. The morning star shone in the sky. I too had become a different person. The student of Talmud, the child I was, had been consumed by the flames. All that was left was a shape that resembled me. My soul had been invaded — and devoured — by a black flame (Wiesel, 37). In Night, author Elie Wiesel describes his experience as a Jew during the Holocaust. As a fifteen year old he is forced into a concentration camp with his father. During his time at these camps he is confronted with absolute evils. Hitler’s goal was to annihilate the Jewish people’s being, culture and beliefs. To an extent — for the Jews who endured the reality of the concentration camps — he succeeded. The Jewish people were systematically

During the march, Rabbi Eliahu is separated from and searches for his son. Elie recalls the Rabbi’s son “had seen him losing ground, sliding back to the rear of the column...And he had continued to run in front, letting the distance between them become greater….He had felt his father growing weaker and, believing that the end was near, had thought by this separation to free himself of a burden that could diminish his own chance for survival” (Wiesel, 91). Elie prayed that he would not to the same to his own father. This estrangement can also lead to violence within family

In Sighet, Elie is so committed to furthering his religious education that he succeeds in finding his own Kabbalah master in Moishe the Beadle. When asked why he prays, Elie responds, “Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” (Wiesel, 4). For Elie, faith is a necessity of life. This faith is diminished upon arrival at the first concentration camp, Birkenau. During his first night and after seeing babies thrown into the crematoria, Elie realizes “the Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent” (Wiesel,