Research Paper On Night By Elie Wiesel

Everybody has experienced a life changing moment at some point or another, but nothing compares to the nightmare Elie Wiesel went through. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie attempts to survive through hell on earth while living during the holocaust. Elie Wiesel lives in the town of Sighet, Transylvania, and he is a very religious Jewish teenage boy who studies Torah and Kabbalah, and has faith in God. Elie and his family, being very optimistic, don't believe that the Nazis will come to their town once they hear that there is Nazi invasion. But they do, in 1944, and things change drastically. Elie and his family, along with many other Jews, are moved into a ghetto, and are then taken in cattle cars to Auschwitz, not knowing what's

The journey to Auschwitz is an ongoing nightmare. It is reality, and there is no way of escape. "There are eighty of you in the car", the German officer added. "If anyone goes missing, you will all be shot, like dogs." All eighty people in the cattle car are suffering, and they are going through the worst possible forms of torture and inhumane treatment. The thirst, the overwhelming heat, the crowding, and the lack of food is intolerable. After many long hours, they reach the Czechoslovakian border, and they are now under the authority of the German army. Among all the Jews on the cattle car, there is a fifty year old woman, Mrs. Schachter, who is with her ten year old son. "Her husband and two older sons had been deported with the first transport, by mistake," and since then she's begun to lose her mind. After three agonizing days, Mrs. Schachter starts sobbing and screaming, and panic arises on the

As soon as they step foot in the concentration camp, they realize that it's a life or death situation. They can see the flames rising from the chimney, and "every few yards, there stood an SS man, his machine gun trained on us. Hand in hand we followed the throng. " Elie Wiesel doesn't know that this is the moment in time and the place where he is going to experience hell on earth. Selections occur immediately, and men and women are separated. Elie leaves his mother and sister, not knowing it is the last time he is ever going to see them again. As he watches his mother and sister Tzipora vanish into the distance, "his hand tightens its grip on his father. All he can think about is not to lose him. Not to remain alone." The SS officers order the men into groups, and Elie is in luck when he ends up with his father. Fortunately, an inmate tells Elie and his father to lie about their ages and professions, knowing that if they lie, they have a much greater chance of survival. Many Jews have no hope, and are awaiting the brutal, inhumane torture, as they watch their beloved ones make their way to the crematory. "Could this be just a nightmare? An unimaginable nightmare?" This same thought entered Elie's mind over and over again. As time goes by, Elie begins to realize how cruel the Nazis are, and knowing that this is just the beginning of what's to come leaves him breathless. It