Elie Wiesel Use Of Dehumanization In Night

Throughout Night by Elie Wiesel, dehumanization is a recurring theme, as the Jewish victims are stripped of their basic human rights and treated as less than human. This essay will analyze the process of dehumanization that took place in Auschwitz as it is depicted in Night.
Elie Wiesel demonstrates this process by depicting the suppression of victims' individuality upon arriving at Auschwitz, then by highlighting their eventual lack of humanity. Part of what makes humans human is our individuality, our ability to distinguish and express ourselves. When someone loses that individuality, he begins to lose his sense of his own humanity. Wiesel uses vivid imagery and language to illustrate the Nazis suppression of victims’ individuality, and

This use of the word “equality” does not symbolize the justice or freedom we usually associate it with. Wiesel uses “equality” to indicate that as their clothes are stripped off, so too are pieces of their individuality. All the victims are dragged down to an equal standing of something less than human. To accentuate this notion further, “[the Nazi’s] clippers tore out our hair, shaved every hair on our bodies” (35). While clothing represents one's ability to express himself, hair is an integral part of our individuality. One’s control over his own body is vital to his sense of his own humanity. Without this control, how can one distinguish himself from an animal or from property? The imagery invoked by the phrase “tore out our hair” emphasizes this point. This phrase kindles feelings of hopelessness and of a loss of control. Each person’s

Upon his arrival in Auschwitz, Wiesel’s emotions were still intact. He was horrified by the cruelty, scared for himself and his family, and loathsome of the Nazis. Upon leaving Auschwitz, “[he] was putting one foot in front of the other, like a machine” (85). The metaphor of a machine emphasizes his loss of emotion, feeling, and even his loss of bodily function. Auschwitz had robbed him of the essential things making one human, until he himself did not feel human anymore. Nor did he consider his fellow victims humans, recalling, “beneath our feet there lay men, crushed, trampled underfoot, dying. Nobody paid attention to them” (89). Wiesel juxtaposes the grim imagery of crushed and trampled men with the blunt and abrupt admission that the others did not care. Empathy is an essential quality of humanity. Whereas upon arriving in Auschwitz, many of the victims tried to help each other, upon leaving they had been robbed of that empathy. Furthermore, Auschwitz stripped victims of their beliefs, their faith, and their hope for any future. During the earlier stages of his time in Auschwitz, Wiesel witnessed people reciting Kaddish. Kaddish is a sacred prayer in Judaism which recognizes the greatness of God. It is said when someone dies to show the strength of one’s faith despite the loss. After Wiesel’s departure from Auschwitz, “The dead