Inhumanity In Night By Elie Wiesel

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In the memoir Night (1956), Elie Wiesel narrates that the inhumanity and cruelty the prisoners endured from the Germans inspire both savagery and nobility of spirit within them. Wiesel develops his claim by describing his personal experiences and the conditions in the concentration camp and by illustrating the emotions of the fellow prisoners around him. He provides his readers with these examples in order to make sure that the reader knows the hardships that the prisoners went through during the Holocaust and to justify the reactions of the many prisoners that he was surrounded by. Wiesel addresses this memoir to anyone in the future generations to certify the fact that the events of the Holocaust will never be forgotten. Wiesel develops this …show more content…

In one instance, A French girl who worked alongside Elie helped bring his spirits up after he was attacked by Idek, one of the Kapos in charge. The French girl witnessed Elie being attacked and she risked her life by telling Elie, “‘Bite your lips, little brother… Don’t cry. Keep your anger, your hate, for another day, for later. The day will come but not now… Wait. Clench your teeth and wait…’” (53). Nobody at the camp knew she could speak German but she had the courage to speak to Elie and help out in any way possible. Another example of Nobility of spirit being inspired is shown in the quote “He was playing a fragment of a Beethoven concerto. Never before had I heard such a beautiful sound” (95). Elie says this about Juliek, a young man from Warsaw who played the violin. Juliek had courage amidst the chaos to play one last song and die doing the one thing he loved. He brought peace to both the living and the dead that surrounded him. He knew that he was going to die doing this but he did it anyway to also bring peace to himself and to live his final moments to the fullest. These two examples fall under the category of a sudden character revelation because they gave Elie hope and a reason to keep fighting everyday. It also made him realize that there were still good people out

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