Ethos In Night By Elie Wiesel

The Holocaust is perhaps one of the most brutal genocides in the history of humanity's existence, causing mass hysteria and chaos worldwide. Although it caused such a detrimental impact on millions, many chose not to talk about it and rather leave it a thing of the past, as to divert attention away from how truly evil and brutal mankind can be. Elie Wiesel, a first hand survivor of Auschwitz-Birkenau, is determined to not let that happen. In an attempt to bring awareness to the events of the Holocaust and give a voice to the millions that died, he publishes his novel, Night. In this novel, Elie relives his experiences during the Holocaust, and attempts to draw attention to his view of humanity as a whole throughout his experience. Elie makes

The events and experiences Wiesel describes in his novel can be deemed extremely credible due to the fact that he experienced them first hand. Specifically, Elie recalls a time during a transfer to a new camp, describing the detainees as animals in a cage fighting over scraps, entertaining the German workers who enjoyed the phenomenon, watching them kill each other one by one over a single crust of bread. In the novel, Elie recalls that “Men were hurling themselves against each other, trampling, tearing at and mauling each other. Beasts of prey unleashed, animal hate in their eyes'' (Wiesel 101). This analogy compares the men to violent animals, ready to kill and rip each other apart for scraps, often dying shortly after receiving their share of crusts. The fact that the prisoners faced such an extreme loss of humanity, and were willing to kill their own friends and family to selfishly keep themselves alive is a significant example of how people can abandon all morals simply to survive, supporting Wiesel's view on humanity as inherently evil. It is clear that once all hope is lost, all morals and values are lost as well. Not only do the prisoners exhibit such vicious behaviors, but the German workers as well. By supporting the acts of dehumanization faced by the concentration camp prisoners, they exhibit inhumane traits themselves. Workers would throw pieces of bread into the wagon, simply just to watch weak, dying men and women tear at and kill each other just to temporarily suppress their hunger. Elie describes the workers as having “...watched the spectacle with great interest” (Wiesel 100), clearly showing no signs of sympathy or remorse. Through Elies experiences, and the actions of his fellow prisoners, and the lack of sympathy from the German workers, it is clear that