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The Theme Of Evil In Elie Wiesel's The Gates Of The Forest

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Within Elie Wiesel’s novel, The Gates of the Forest, there are many depictions of evil. This is not surprising, as it is following Gregor, a Hungarian Jew and only survivor of his family, who escapes the Holocaust by hiding in a village forest. Contained in the numerous examples of evil given in this boy’s tale, there are two that are embodiments of both Zimbardo’s definition of evil and one of Neiman’s definition of sadistic evil. These two definitions may have the same fundamentals of humanity’s understanding of evil, but there is a difference between them that makes the clarification of them as two separate definitions necessary. As Zimbardo states, evil is, “defined as intentionally behaving, or causing others to act, in ways that demean, …show more content…

One such example of this type of evil in Wiesel’s novel is during a flashback that Gregor has of his childhood. In his story, he describes what usually happened to lone Jewish children when they are making their way to school within his neighborhood:
He was not misled by the apparent peace and quiet, because he knew that the Gang was lying in wait. They would leap on him from the recessed doorway on the corner, where all summer long there had been a gypsy sitting. To beat up a lone Jewish child, to rub his nose in the mud, that was the Gang’s idea of amusement…The Gang…shouting savagely…“Dirty Jews, dirty Jews…You killed Christ.” (27-28, Wiesel)
This group of children is a depiction of Neiman’s definition of evil because of the enjoyment they receive from harming others. As Gregor states, these acts of harm to both the body and the minds of the lone Jewish children bring “amusement” to the “Gang” (28, Wiesel). These acts also exemplify Zimbardo’s definition of evil by being demeaning and intentional in their design to cause mental and physical harm to any Jewish child that comes across them. They are ignorant about their culture and religion, and because of the perpetual belief of anti-Semitism myths throughout their community – such as the Jews were the ones to kill Jesus, when it was the Romans – they are able to treat

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