Night Research Paper

Josephine DiCosola May English Honors 1/3/24.

Survival’s Effects on Humanity as Demonstrated by Night.

Survival is a basic human instinct, implemented to help us live longer and protect ourselves in dangerous situations. However, its effects are far-reaching and can be detrimental to certain aspects of our lives. This is greatly demonstrated by the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, a novel about his personal experiences as a teenager in the Holocaust. The situations of survival he and the other victims of the Holocaust were placed in greatly affected aspects of their lives and themselves as human beings. The memoir Night by Elie Wiesel demonstrates how our will to survive in extreme situations comes at the expense of the betrayal of our morals

Wiesel remarked on the conditions of the cattle cars by stating “There was little air. The lucky ones found themselves near a window[.]After two days of travel, thirst became intolerable, as did the heat” (Wiesel 23). The dangerous conditions and uncertainty of the circumstances placed them in a situation of survival. They were not aware of where they were going or what was to happen to them and were therefore very apprehensive and inclined to be irrational. Shortly after, while they were still trapped in the cattle cars, a woman named Mrs. Schächter began screaming about seeing fire. Instead of peacefully resolving the situation and attempting to appease her nerves, they bind her in the hopes it will keep her quiet. When she begins screaming again, they become more desperate, and Elie states “Once again, the young men bound and gagged her. When they actually struck her, people shouted their approval” (26). The Jews’ reactions to people striking Mrs. Schächter are evidence of how survival has affected their personal sense of morality. Before being sent into the cattle car, they most likely had complete control of their autonomy, were stable and secure in their

The latter half of the novel is set near the end of WWII, when the Germans were losing the war and frantically moving Holocaust victims further inward in the country in the hopes of concealing their crimes. As the prisoners—including Elie Wiesel—were being transported to a new camp, many ended up starving or freezing to death. Wiesel says “We received no food. We lived on snow; it took the place of bread” (Wiesel 100). This demonstrates how severe the situation was for the Jews. The description of snow taking the place of bread emphasizes the extent of their starvation. Bread is the main food described in this memoir that the Jews were regularly given for meals, along with soup. Wiesel specifically referring to snow replacing bread emphasizes how although they were being starved previously, the rate of hunger increased as they were being transported, thereby increasing the fear of death and desperation. Their survival in the camps in terms of food availability was somewhat consistent, while during transport there was no guarantee of food at all. Shortly after Elie describes the severity of the situation, he recalls another event he witnessed involving how much the prisoners changed due to starvation. He recounts a German worker throwing the starving men bits of bread while they were walking and watching them fight over it. An old man acquired a small piece of bread and was