Examples Of Dehumanization In Night By Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel was a young boy living a normal life in Sighet Poland. He practiced Judaism and studied texts such as the Talmud and he even studied the Kabbalah. In the beginning of his memoir, Wiesel is an innocent somewhat spoiled young boy who only thinks about studying Jewish texts. Little did he know that he was about to be apart of one of the most systematic racist acts in history, no one saw it coming. In the memoir Night, Wiesel discusses the systematic dehumanization of the Jews and the horrific reality of the holocaust. He skillfully uses imagery to develop the central idea that dehumanization occurred. Dehumanization shown through imagery occurs when The nazis had stripped the jews of their clothes, belongings and hair, and anything

“Our clothes were to be thrown on the floor at the back of the barrack. There was a pile there already. New suits, old ones, torn overcoats, rags.” (35) And: “Their clippers tore our hair, shaved every hair on our bodies. My head was buzzing;” (35). These are both instances of dehumanization because the Nazis are denying these people of their natural rights to their belongings and hair. Wiesel uses imagery to describe the pile of clothes on the ground. This pile is a symbol of dehumanization because it shows where the Jews had the first of their natural rights stripped from them. In the second quote, Imagery is shown by putting emphasis around the buzzing of their heads. Wiesel choses to say, “Their clippers tore our hair,”. (35) rather than a more basic answer such as they buzzed our heads. He chose this because Elie wanted to use imagery to put the reader in the authors shoes and really experience what he felt in that moment. The nazis were tearing his life apart and they started by tearing the hair off his

Everyone in the camps was forced to run to a different camp as the war front had gotten to close to their camp. The German soldiers were given orders to shoot those who could not keep their pace with everyone else. They did not deprive themselves from that. Rabbi Eliahu had fallen behind slightly and his son had kept his pace and quickly separated from his father. “For three years, they had stayed close to one another. Side by side, they had endured suffering, the blows; they had waited for their ration of bread and they had prayed. Three years, from camp to camp, from selection to selection. And now—when the end seemed near—fate had separated them.” (91). But it wasn’t just fate that had separated them, his own son had seen his father suffering and he had taken the opportunity to get ahead and save himself. He did not believe in his father and he left him to die. It’s hard to imagine what he and his father went through. 3 years of brutal labor, harsh winters, and public executions were common day-to-day things that you would see at a camp. He had been dehumanized to the point that he had willingly chosen to let his father die and he never looked back. Wiesel uses imagery to show how dehumanization had effected the jews mindset. Those who went into the camp with the only thought on their mind being to stay with their fathers. Now, after all they had been through together, the Rabbis