Theme Of Night By Elie Wiesel

The struggle for survival was a central theme in each of the week’s works. How does one survive in the face of horror? How does one survive in loneliness? How does one survive in the arms of the enemy? How does one survive with guilt? How does one survive the warping psychological effects of genocide? Are means that lead to survival, appropriate means? Elie Wiesel’s Night is a continuous exploration of the struggle for and bitterness of survival. I found his description of relationships between fathers and sons particularly heart wrenching. One of the earliest anecdotes along this theme was the description of Rabbi Eliahou’s son who Eliezer prays to never be like. He describes the son: His son had seen his father “losing ground, limping,

Shortly after this encounter Eliezer experiences his own struggle with his father and survival. After losing his father in the night and beginning to search for him, Eliezer wrestles with his own thoughts: “Don’t let me find him! If only I could get rid of this dead weight, so that I could use all my strength to struggle for my own survival, and only worry about myself.” Although Eliezer quickly rebukes himself and cares for his father, he and other character wrestle with game theory like debates about whether it better to make caring decisions when hope is gone, or whether logical decisions of self preservation. If self-preserving actions are the only road to survival, are they the best choice? If not, who are the exceptions? Any fellow man? Should a parent prioritize their child’s life? Should a child prioritize their parent’s life? After reading the book I read Weisel’s acceptance speech for his Nobel Peace Prize, in it he imagines himself as a boy asking into the future about what’s been done with his survival. Is survival by any means retrospectively inherently good if that survival was used for a benevolent

This film raises huge questions about identity, allegiance, family, faith, and again survival. Salomon must renounce his faith and home multiple times within the movie. He battles to scrub out mental and physical markers of his identity. Is it right to suppress your faith, heritage, and identity to survive? As the movie progresses Salomon finds himself in the heart of the enemy. While few would argue this was a joyful time, few other Jewish boys his age were enjoying full meals, kissing pretty girls in sunny fields, or sleeping in warm beds. Few other Jewish boys entered into armed combat against those liberating camps, or propagated the message of Adolf Hilter. Is seeking shelter inside the walls of a larger system of oppression acceptable? It may not have mattered to a million boys in oppression if one more had joined in their imprisonment as opposed to the oppressors, but the idea of condoning Nazism by participation, in the name of survival, is an uncomfortable notion