Night By Elie Wiesel Loss Of Innocence

995 Words4 Pages

“We were coming closer and closer to the pit, from which an infernal heat was rising. Twenty more steps. If I was going to kill myself, this was the time” (Wiesel 33). Elie Wiesel, author of Night had been face to face with death more times than he can count. All of this he witnesses as Auschwitz, one of the most infamous concentration camps. Wiesel’s threat of death at every step causes him to lose his hope and innocence. Ellie goes through tragedies like watching children hang. Although, Ellie isn’t the only one who faced these horrors. The movie Life is Beautiful also captures the devastation of the Holocaust and its prisoners. Guido, a man sent to one of these camps with his son and wife has to survive the dangers. He uses his humor …show more content…

Throughout Night Wiesel faces these horrors everyday at just fifteen years old. Once he enters the concentration camp he is told that he is now “eighteen” (Wiesel 30). The inmate telling him he is now eighteen is signifying the loss of his innocence. After that moment he is thrusted into the concentration camp Auschwitz. Where he goes on to see many people die. Each death reinforces the shattering of his innocence At just fifteen he is forced to work, sweat, bleed, and die as he is told. Wiesel’s life is ruled by the SS officers and he does not have any way of escape. He is forced to face the truth of his life. He has to accept that death is around the corner and his life is always on the line. Joshua however, does not lose his innocence. Although Guido loses his life, he does not let his son’s innocence be lost. Guido uses a game to keep Joshua in the barrack hiding for most of the movie. He also uses sneaking onto the loudspeaker as a game to bring happiness to Joshua. When he comes back from working all day he tells Joshua he earns them sixty points for the day (Benigni). Once Joshua leaves the metal box in which he was hiding, a tank drives up to him. This tank is taken as his tank because Guido promised a tank if they won the game. Once the tank catches up with the mass of people leaving the concentration camp Joshua finds his mother, Dora. Joshua cries out about how they won the tank. Not at all knowing that Guido, his father, is