Deprivation of Needs in “Night” THESIS - According to Maslow’s Hierarchy, the prisoners in the death camp were deprived of their basic needs. Maslow’s theory is a series of levels that people need to live on. The levels include safety, belonging, esteem, and physiological needs. Maslow says that if a person does not have one of these needs, they will do anything to get it. So, in the book “Night”, we can see how the prisoners had their needs taken away from them. The prisoners were deprived of food. “I was nothing but a body. Perhaps even less: a famished stomach. The stomach alone was measuring time” (52). Near the end of the book, you can see an example of how food was hard to come by. The father was killed by his son to get a small crust …show more content…
In total, prisoners were given measly amounts of food as a form of abuse and this caused severe physical and psychological effects. Prisoners were at risk of death all the time. “Poor devils, you are heading for the crematorium” (32). There were multiple ways prisoners could be killed, including malnutrition, extreme labor, unsanitary conditions, physical abuse, and the chance of dying in selection. In the death camps, no place was safe. This is an unacceptable place of living, and this was how they had their shelter taken away—another vital piece is to be able to have well-being. The prisoners were always in fear. “My forehead was still covered in cold sweat. Still, I told him that I could not believe that human beings were being burned in our times; the world would never tolerate such crimes.” (33). There is no guarantee at any time that you will be safe in the camps. Prisoners did not know if they would make it out alive. With the threat of punishment, selection, and loss of humanity, prisoners were always in a constant state of fear. The prisoners had no identity. “The three “veteran” prisoners, needles in hand, tattooed numbers on their left arms. I became A-7713.”