Essay Questions For Night By Elie Wiesel

What causes the prisoners to treat each other inhumanely?
The prisoners of the concentration camps treated each other inhumanely because of the mental anguish and physical torture they endured while staying at the camps. Prisoners hurt each other because of starvation and anger. Also their families were separated and they were beaten by guards causing them to hurt each other.
The prisoners ultimately treat each other inhumanely because of the mental anguish they endured during their stay at the camps. For example, the prisoners were all separated from their families upon arriving at Auschwitz. Elie and his father were separated from his mother and sister. That in itself would cause mental duress on the captives. The constant beating

One of the prisoners, who had been there longer, taunted Elie and his father when they first arrived. “Yet that was the moment I left my mother. In a fraction of a second I could see my mother and my sisters, move to the right,” (pp. 29). “On a daily basis, to thrash him (Elie’s father) savagely. The inmates made fun of us. Look at the little officer, teaching the old man to march,” (pp. 55). “I remained in Buchenwald until April 11. I shall not describe my life during that period. It no longer mattered since my father’s death, nothing mattered to me anymore,” (pp. 113). Years of watching other prisoners die in horrible ways was another way the guards mentally abused the prisoners, which caused them to feel numb and lose hope. Time and time again, Elie describes being forced to watch countless hangings in the gallows sections. One specific account was when three prisoners were “found to have a significant quantity of weapons,” (pp. 63) in their possession, so the guards assembled 3 gallows to hang them all at once. One of them was a young boy who did

A great example of this is when the prisoners were transferred to the concentration camps, they fought for food in the cattle cars. Also, Elie Wiesel said in the book when he stayed in Gleinitx that he was hungry and thirsty. There are many instances where the guards took physical advantage of the prisoners, which in turn resulted in the prisoners assaulting each other. For example, when Idek exploded on Elie’s father and beat him with an iron bar. Elie feels angry with his father for being in the way instead of anger towards Idek for initiating the beating in the first place. This is a perfect example of the toll their captivity took on their minds and bodies while staying in the camps. Another great example of the physical torture the prisoners received was when Elie’s father was slapped “with such force that he fell down,” (pp. 39). Elie had been in the camp for only a day, but that’s all it took for him to remain silent and do nothing when he saw the abuse happen to his