Compare And Contrast Night By Elie Wiesel

The Holocaust, which began in 1933 was directed by Adolf Hitler. During the Holocaust, the Jewish people had to live in prison camps called “concentration camps” where they were forced to do physical labor. In the realistic-fiction novel Night by Elie Wiesel, the narrator describes what life was like during the Holocaust. The historical period did influence the text because the book describes the lifestyle of the Holocaust, and the outcome. In the spring of 1944 the Nazis occupied Hungary. Then they forced the Jews into small ghettos within Sighet; which was the beginning of Elie’s story. In the novel, Elie describes how life was like living in the concentration camps. Every evening the Jews were forced to survive on bread and margarine.

In both Night and The Book Thief they mention the concentration camps and the gas chambers. In Night, an inmate said to Eliezer “Don’t you understand anything? you will be burned! Burned to a cinder! Turned into ashes” pg.31 In The Book Thief, the narrator (Death) also mentions a gas chamber. The narrator says “out of those shower facilities, onto the roof and up into eternity’s certain breadth.” (Markus Zusak). Not only did The Book Thief share examples with Night, but a poem titled “Frozen Jews” also helps prove that the narrator of Night accurately described what life was like during the Holocaust. Night and “Frozen Jews” both talked about the winter months and how the Jews had to endure them. Elie Wiesel said “Heavy snow continued to fall over the corpses.” pg.90 which explains that there were people who died due to frost bite. In the poem “Frozen Jews” the narrator said “Fist, fixed in ice, of a naked old man: the power’s undone in his hand. I’ve sampled death in all guises. Nothing surprises.” (Avrom Sutzkever). These two pieces of literature share important details of what the Jews had to suffer with while living in the camps, and they both share information that was also used in the novel Night; Thus supporting Wiesel’s