A memoir: “A historical account or biography written from personal knowledge or special sources” (Oxford Dictionary). But, what does it do? It inspires, educates, and changes. According to Elie, it creates witnesses. In his case, it creates witnesses of the tragedy, the holocaust, that he experienced during his adolescence. Dehumanization and insults were commonplace within the camps, not only those in charge who took part, but it was other prisoners as well. At one point, even Elie refers to the people he’s running with as “filthy dogs” (85). On top of this, they are treated as a form of entertainment by the guards and the people of the town they passed through. Bread would be thrown in and the workers would watch as the prisoners fought each …show more content…
The woman who risked exposing her identity to give Elie bread is the most common notable example, but I think there are many more. The pipel and guard who were kind and treated the prisoners as brothers and the Akiba drummer who tried his best to keep other’s faithful seem much smaller, but I think that they’re equally as important. In my eyes, Elie lost his faith in the beginning, what we see throughout the rest of the story is much closer to my view of hope. He prays not because he has faith, but because he has hope that his God still exists. Many of the characters who lost their faith later on, such as the Akiba Drummer, couldn’t muster hope nor strength to go on, eventually giving up. I think that a large reason as to why Elie was able to continue is that while others had faith, he had his father. Someone that was dependent on him, someone he had to support. He states multiple times that he wants nothing more than to lie down and give up, but he says that he doesn’t have the right to die because he needs to be there for his father. During the beginning of the book, night is simply a way to keep track of the time, but as the story progresses it comes to carry a much deeper