Dehumanization can be defined as demonizing the enemy or making someone seem less than human and unworthy of humane treatment. However, in the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, dehumanization has a more significant meaning. Throughout the memoir, the Nazis not only dehumanize the Jewish people but also take their identity, family, and values. They steal their clothes, shave their hair, remove their names, and force them to fight against each other like wolves for just a crust of bread merely for their amusement. In the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie is dehumanized by having his name taken away from him, and having his head shaved making him look the same as everyone around him, which causes Eliezer to question death, give up hope and give up faith in himself and others around him. …show more content…
Because he is given a number as his new identification, he now is stripped of his identity and the connections that his name carried. Elie is forced to line up with the rest of the Jewish people where veteran prisoners began to tattoo numbers onto them. Elie gets to the front of the line and they begin to tattoo him, “I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name” (42). Here Elie understands that from now on he is known as A-7713 and that he no longer will be called Elizer. This changes his identity because his name gives him a sense of who he is, where he belongs, and the people he connects with, however, that is taken from him. This makes him lose hope, and no longer have a connection with his family and community. In addition to having to survive as an imprisoned slave, Elie is also as a nameless worker who has no title or