How To Survive In Night By Elie Wiesel

Humans' natural instinct to survive takes over when they are in perilous circumstances. The need to save yourself would be the first thing that would come to mind, regardless of how self-centered the choice might be. In the memoir, Night, Elie Wiesel talks about his experience while in the concentration camps and how every often they were faced with life and death situations. When the Jewish people first arrive at the camp, they seem to care about each other and help each other. However, as the Holocaust progresses and the conditions the prisoners are forced into worsen, they are left with no choice but to focus solely on their own survival. The theme of selfishness for survival is significant throughout the book, with prisoners turning a blind

In order to avoid punishments, prisoners in the concentration camps would often turn on their fellow inmates and side with the abusers. When Elie witnesses his father being hit with an iron bar by Idek, he “[keeps] silent. In fact [he thinks] of stealing away in order not to suffer the blows” (Wiesel 54). He feels frustrated with this, however his anger “was not directed at the kapo but at [his] father” because “why couldn’t he have avoided Idek’s wrath?” (Wiesel 54). Elie’s reaction seems to be shocking since he is blaming his father for being a victim, rather than Idek, who takes out his anger on prisoners who have done nothing wrong. He seems to have no compassion for his old father, instead all he can care about is getting away and saving himself. This lack of

During the death march to Gleiwitz, Rabbi Eliahu becomes separated from his son as he cannot keep up. As the Rabbi searches for his son, Eli realizes that his son “had seen him [fall behind] and he had continued to run in front, letting the distance between them become greater” (Wiesel 91). The son chooses his own survival over helping out his father, knowing his father was dependent on him and needed him to survive. Another example of the breakdown of family bonds caused by the prisoners' desire to survive is while they are on the train to Buchenwald and a son attacks his father for a piece of bread. Shocked by his son’s actions, the father yells out “Meir, my little Meir! Don't you recognize me... You're killing your father... I have bread...for you too” (Wiesel 101), but the son is too blinded by his greed to notice that he is killing his father. Driven by hunger and selfishness the son chooses to his own survival at the cost of the familial bond. By living through the harsh realities of the concentration camps, the prisoners adopt selfishness as a survival mechanism and choose to deliberately override any concerns they may have for