Wake up From the Night Wake up From the Night Cruelty surrounds the world constantly, and frequently appears in works of literature to reveal certain things about the theme. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, these acts of cruelty express and enhance the theme. One of the large themes revealed by these acts is “man’s inhumanity to man,” which includes the mistreatment of Jews by the Nazis, the common people, and other Jews. Watching the large amounts of violence, abuse, and discrimination that occur in this memoir show us the horrors of the Holocaust and how it transformed the men and women who experienced it, as well as those who caused it. The first example of “man’s inhumanity to man” is the Nazi’s treatment of the Jews. Nazis, the followers of Adolf Hitler, built and …show more content…
These examples show the ignorance and lack of action by the people of Germany and surrounding countries, as well as the helplessness of the Jews during the Holocaust. While in the ghetto of Sighet, Elie witnesses the brutality the Hungarian police use to control the Jewish people. “The Hungarian police struck out with truncheons and rifle butts, to right and left, without reason… their blows falling upon old men and women….” (25) Finally, when riding the cattle car from Gleiwitz to Buchanan, citizens throw bread into the cars in order to watch the Jews fight for amusement. The quotes “They stopped and stared after us, but otherwise showed no surprise” (105) and “Dozens of starving men fought each other to death for a few crumbs. The German workmen took a lively interest in this spectacle” (105) display that the common public were cruel because they ignored Jewish persecution and even mocked it in a sense. They were bystanders. This relates to the theme because it shows how inaction can be worse than beating; because the people did not help the Jews, they forced them to endure the Holocaust. This is truly