Through thorough examination of Eliezer Wiesel’s autobiographical novel Night, it is clear that he finds hope to possess the power to permit the survival of individuals, but whose presence can pose a great danger to a people’s survival. Demonstrated quite early in Wiesel’s book is the ability of hope to keep a person alive, even in the face of great hardship. Shortly after Elie’s train arrived at Auschwitz, it is written that “The barometer of confidence soared. Here was a sudden release from the terrors of the previous nights” (Wiesel 20). This proves a point on multiple levels. For one, just in reading the quote, it can be seen that the slightest scrap of decent news can keep the Jewish people positive, because they have hope. On a deeper level, however, it is apparent that, as a result of …show more content…
They took little moments of positivity and clung to them, using them as a reason to keep on going through the horrors they were being subjected to. The flip side of this relationship between hope and life becomes indisputably apparent in the case of Akiba Drumer. A rabbi, he lost his hope in God, saying “I can’t go on . . . It’s all over. . .” (Wiesel 56). While normally the inconsequential words of a man who has given up, his relinquishing of God and, even further, hope, is incredibly significant, especially considering that “when the selection came, he was condemned in advance, offering his own neck to the executioner” (Wiesel 57). As soon as Akiba lost his hope, he fell subject to the selection. This clearly demonstrates the connection of hope and life. Were Akiba to have kept believing in God, to have kept hoping that he would be saved, he may not have, would not have, fallen victim to the selection. This is even mentioned in the book, stating that “if he could have gone on believing in God, if he could have seen proof of God in this Cavalry, he would not have been taken by the