Loss In Elie Wiesel's Night

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How does one win and when has one lost? This question is not always clear-cut when applied to life and its many events, especially when a large portion of “happiness” or suffering is involved. When losing, one can learn important lessons that cannot be taught whilst winning and vice versa when winning. This is why it is one’s job to analyze the goings-on of everything they see or experience to discern whether those involved are actually winning or losing. How can one who has suffered so much still be a winner? This is the question one must ask themselves when reading Night, for it would seem that Elie lost everything he had to the Holocaust. Having to endure unspeakable cruelty and having to witness the destruction of his faith, of his family, …show more content…

In fact, not many people can compare their experiences of winning to how Giosue or Guido won. Now one might say that Guido lost at the end of Life is Beautiful, and they would be correct to say this, but it is because of all of the sacrifices that he made that allowed Dora and Giosue to survive and their survival is what makes Guido a winner. Without Guido, then Giosue would have at first experienced the fear and horror that comes with being imprisoned in a Nazis concentration camp. After he got over the initial shock, Giosue would have then had to deal with the slow, antagonizing death in a gas chamber after he and the rest of the children in the camp were called to “take a shower”. Dora was able to endure living in the camp because of hope provided to her by Guido and his actions. Guido let Dora know that he and Giosue were alive and well when he commandeered the camps speaker system to talk to her. The look on Dora’s face lets the audience know that Guido and Giosue’s words filled her with the strength and desire to continue living. Dora’s hope was again renewed when Guido played the record of the Offenbach opera that they both went to see. All of these scenarios of hope and happiness during an otherwise abysmal period demonstrate how “losers” can actually be winning at certain points in