Dehumanization In Eliezer Wiesel's Night

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In the novel, Night, by Eliezer Wiesel, the title of the memoir is very significant. This novel is a true story of the events that occurred during the Holocaust in Germany during the 1940s. Night is very important in this novel because of not only the literal events that took place at night, but the metaphorical darkness of the time period. Additionally, the beginning of the novel is happy, like daytime, while towards the end of the story, everything is dark and dreary, like night. Throughout Elie Wiesel’s story, the most significant events happened at night, most likely because the things that were happening to the Jews were cruel which is why the Germans wanted the night sky to cover up the atrocities that were occurring at the time. For …show more content…

The dehumanization of the Jews at the concentration camps was so severe that many experienced very depressing feelings and moods. The story explains, “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp which turned my life into one long night. Seven times cursed and seven times sealed” (Wiesel 32). The depression that was implemented by the torture of the camps hung over some people’s spirit like a dark cloud, as Elie is referring to when he says that his life had turned into a cursed …show more content…

Aside from the actual abuse that took place, much of the world did nothing to help those who were being discriminated against. During these years in the 1940s, people began to lose faith, give up, and the joy that was once found in life was very scarce. The text includes, “Humanity? Humanity is not concerned with us. Today anything is allowed” (Wiesel 30). The indifference or lack of concern that much of the world had towards Jews really shows what a sad state of affairs the world was experiencing. Millions of people were neglected and tortured during the Holocaust and the rest of the world just let it happen. The indifference very well may be the darkest part of the entire story, due to the fact that so many people were struggling to survive and no nation had done anything to prevent this