Does trauma make or break people? Trauma tends to have negative effects on humans, as trauma is a tragic and painful experience. In Night by Elie Wiesel delves into Wiesel s personal tragic experience during the Holocaust. As the book progresses, Wiesel is separated from loved ones and witnesses the horrors of mankind as he is forced to move to five different concentration camps. Due to the unfortunate circumstances, Wiesel is forced to make difficult choices which better him as a human such as taking care of his ill father even though Elie s own freedom and life was not certain. Wiesel continues to show great amounts of empathy and courage as he cares for others, even in situations where people would become selfish for their own survival, …show more content…
Identities were erased as humans with names and hopes had become just numbers in the eyes of Nazis and SS officers. Many argue that Elie had become weaker as they believe that he lost his identity when he began to lose his faith. Elie is believed to have lost his true identity as he lives a farce of being an eighteen year old and he continued his lie when a SS officer asked what his occupation was. Elie s dishonesty was not a loss of his identity, instead it was simply a way to protect his life as a man advised him and his father to say eighteen and forty when asked about their ages (Wiesel, 30). This white lie allowed Wiesel to survive the Holocaust so he had not lost his identity, he simply portrayed himself as another in order to survive. Elie s Jewish identity could not be lost even in situations where he is forced to portray himself as someone he is not. Wiesel s Jewish faith stands strong even when he witnesses the death of people he cared for as he continues to pray. To survive Wiesel lied but that does not make him weak as that simple lie allowed him to survive the barbarity and the cruel agony that the SS officers made him go