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Overcoming adversity literary examples
Essays on how adversity builds character development
Overcoming adversity literary examples
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From the small town of Sighet in Transylvania to the huge concentration camps of Auschwitz. Elie Wiesel, the author and victim of the book Night, the horrifying experience of the Holocaust. Wiesel is a 15 year old Jewish boy who was captured by the Germans or “Nazis” during WWII. He went through an overwhelming amount of trauma, like when he got separated from his mother and sisters and watching his father suffer an unbearable amount of pain that eventually killed him. The fact is, power is a tool that can corrupt itself and others, it can ruin people’s lives and it can do that without people even realizing it.
In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, Eliezer Wiesel narrates the legendary tale of what happened to him and his father during the Holocaust. In the introduction, Wiesel talks about how his village in Seghet was never worried about the war until it was too late. Wiesel’s village received advanced notice of the Germans, but the whole village ignored it. Throughout the entire account, Wiesel has many traits that are key to his survival in the concertation camps.
In this book Elie speaks of his hardships and how he survived the concentration camps. Elie quickly changed into a sorrowful person, but despite that he was determined to stay alive no matter the cost. For instance, during the death
Elie Wiesel was one of the many unfortunate souls who were sent to Auschwitz, a well known concentration camp. He spent many painful years watching people get shot, or die of starvation; seeing people get sent to gas chambers for no reason. After he escaped, he turned bitter, and cruel. He later wrote the book Night. Elie Wiesel stated boldly, “The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference.”
The Holocaust was one of the most tragic events in history. It just so happened to be the cause of six million deaths. While there are countless beings who experienced such trauma, it is impossible to hear everyone's side of the story. However, one man, in particular, allowed himself to speak of the tragedies. Elie Wiesel addressed the transformation he underwent during the Holocaust in his memoir, Night.
Night has revealed to me the immensity of the suffering and ruthlessness that Jews were subjected to on daily basis during the holocaust in an emotional and moving first-hand experience. I choose a train, symbol of oppression, to represent the initial separation from a normal life in which everyone inside the crowded train car received, along with a taste of the pain and suffering that was soon to be forced upon them. I choose this quote to show how shocking mentally and physically the transition phase was from a normal life to that of the oppressed and to emphasize how easily he gave up in the beginning. Despite this, he managed to persevere and overcome the enormous challenges of surviving in a concentration camp.
Courage is a word that used often or not, has it’s own meaning. Having courage to do the impossible is experienced in our everyday lives without even thinking, such as, taking out the trash, going to school, taking a step onto a unknown street, it happens to us all and can even have a dramatic impact on yourself, your future, and your life. In the book Night courage is experienced every single day of torture. Prisoners, such as Elie, face and fight for their own survival not knowing that their best weapon possessed in their hands was courage. Courage was a weapon, a very powerful weapon that could change your fate in an instant.
Imagine knowing your fate ahead of time. That single moment would be stuck in your head, replayed every second to prevent it. This would obstruct your feeling of morals, making you only focus on your own survival. Nothing would get in your way of trying to survive. During the Holocaust, many people were faced with this moment when they stepped in a concentration camp.
It is a common assumption among numerous people in the world that the Holocaust never existed. In fact, almost fifty percent of the world population never even heard of the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel helped people around the world learn about the Holocaust through his book “Night.” He wanted people to see the bravery, courage, and guilt of the Jews through his book. “Night” shows the horrific and malicious acts in the German concentration camps during the Holocaust.
Your existence is special, so you should be grateful for what you already have in life. If you put your mind to something, you will be able to overcome any obstacle. Keep fighting until you cannot fight any longer. Elie Wiesel has demonstrated these characteristics in his novel, “Night.” He has fought through many tough times and experiences when he was in the Holocaust.
When these people were being treated in such malicious ways, they started to believe that God wasn’t really there for them. They felt as if He wasn 't there to protect them. Sometimes, they started to rebel against their own religion and turn to their worst enemies for faith. Throughout Elie’s memoir, Night, Elie shows that many people, including himself, lost faith during their stay at the concentration camps. Many other victims of the concentration camps lived to see such tragedies that they began to lose hope in God, as well as he did.
In Night by Elie Wiesel, Wiesel says, “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed….Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself.” (Wiesel, 2006, pg. 34) Eliezer perseveres not simply in light of the way that he his related Jews murdered before his eyes, additionally he feels that his God was slaughtered. The concentration camp experience pounds his chastity and his trust in a reasonable and revering God. Another evidence is shown in Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, in which he says, "Human rights are being violated on every continent….
“Yes, you can lose somebody overnight, yes, your whole life can be turned upside down. Life is short. It can come and go like a feather in the wind. ”- Shania Twain.
(Wiesel 112). Eliezer is sad when his father dies, but is more relieved because he can take care of himself now. Another way Eliezer is dehumanized mentally is through his religion. Before he was sent to the concentration camps, Eliezer believed God always knew best. But as the memoir goes on, Eliezer loses his faith.
The cruelty of the German officers at the concentration camps change Elie’s personality throughout the novel. At the beginning of the novel, Elie is deeply religious and spends most of his time studying Judaism. However, by the end of the novel, Elie believes that God has been unjust to him and all the other Jews, and has lost most of his faith. The cruelty of the German officers also changed the other Jews as well. The events of the Holocaust forces the prisoners to fend for themselves, and not help others.
