Friday, October 22, 2010

Night Essay: Elie vs. Society.

Society has always had problems throughout history, and human inequality has been one of the biggest problems. In the book, "Night" by Elie Weisel, a Jewish comunnity is taken by nazis to concentration camps where they literally work to death. Elie, a Jewish teenager manages to survive due to his hope, patience and effort for living. Things like this wouldn't have happened though, if the nazis hadn't seen the Jewish as different from any other human group. The main conflict of the story is between Elie and his community, and the Nazis.

Nazis keep the Jews in the dark about what is happening to them. Elie lives in a peaceful ghetto among many other Jewish people and German officers who watch them. The nazis often do unexpected things that affect the Jewish communities' people. One day, the Jewish were informed something: "The guetto was to be completely wiped out. We were to leave street by street, starting the following day,"(11). The Nazis come to Elie's community and take them all to the concentration camp without them knowing. They have little time to do it, and if they make mistakes, it can cost them their lives. Due to acts like this by the Nazis, Elie and his community feel threatened. The Jewish never know what will happen to them next.

The Nazis feel no compassion for the Jews. All throughout the story, it is shown how the Nazis mistreat the Jews and disrespect them. The feeling of superiority and power is the reason the Nazis make the lives of the Jews miserable. Elie and his group marched from the concentration camp they were being evacuated from to another one and one of the SS soldiers leading them, yelled, " 'Faster, you filthy sons of bitches!' "(81). This is how the Nazis treat the Jews; in a very disrespectful way not caring about what they say. The SS soldiers want them to run as fast as they can just to purposely make them tired, so that if anyone stops, they can shoot them and kill them. Both, the nazis and the Jewish have different points of view on this occasion; to the Nazis, this is how they show their superiority and power and to the Jewish people, this is a competition for survival. As the hate on the Jews continues, society becomes more corrupt.

The Nazis try to encourage prisoners to let the weak ones down and to try to survive for themselves. Elie sacrifices his ration of food to let his father eat more than him so he can be able to survive. The only thing Elie wants is to keep his father alive to always have someone next to him, however, the Nazi head of the block said to Elie when he noticed Elie helping out his father survive, " 'Listen to me boy. Don't forget that you're in a concentration camp. Here every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else. Even of his father', "(105). The head of the block is telling Elie to let his father down and to look for himself. This strikes Elie's mind just like it does to the minds of many other Jews. Elie's care for his father won't let him down, but the Nazis divide the Jewish friends and family members from one another either psychologically by messing with their minds or physically by force. At the end, all the weak ones die and the strong ones continue their misery.

The major conflict is that the German Nazis destroy Elie's life just like they do to thousands of other Jews. They take their most important values; their freedom, their hope and their own people. Nazis aren't conpassive with the Jews and they wash their minds telling them to forget about everyone else. When te Nazis mistreat the Jews, chug their minds, and isolate them from society, they cause at least as much damage as their weapons and their gas chambers do.

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