Elie Wiesel's Night illustrates in discreet detail the horrors within the barb-wired confines of the Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz. The book reads fairly easily, although the sophistication of the language and writing style most likely faltered due to the novel's rough translation from Yiddish, a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, to English. Night allows the reader to effortlessly imagine the trials and tribulations of the average inmate in one of Nazi Germany's many slaughterhouses, although I personally found that the book's tone failed to truly epitomize and fairly demonize the atrocities performed by the Third Reich into a fashion that allows the reader to fully comprehend evil. Elie Wiesel's Night, however, succeeds in condensing what was one of man's most malicious acts of genocide in recent memory into a short narrative.
Night contains a multitude of various themes that can be inferred by a reader of any caliber. One theme being that of self-preservation and the power of will. Each and every piteous soul begins their journey without any idea of the rapidly approaching fate, whether their destiny glistens with glory or travails in torture. Those souls soon find that their fates have been placed in another man's hands, hands that show no empathy for the wretched who wonder into his grasp. Hope of retribution has been immediately crushed by the relentless wrath of the SS soldiers stationed at the death camps. The names of inmates are replaced with numbers, both to organize them and to demoralize them into a sub-human. Souls found unfit or unworthy of survival are quickly cast aside to the pits of hell, the furnaces of Auschwitz and Dachau. For those who have passed examination have either two options, continue their sufferings while maintaining a shred of hope or accepting their fate and succumbing to death. Those who lose hope and have lost the will to live are the first to perish. They become just another forgotten number engulfed in the smoke stacks ascending from hell into the heavens. The theme can comfort readers who envision Elie's struggles as a motivational tool to re-evaluate their own personal character.
Elie Wiesel writes his narrative from his own personal perspective of Auschwitz. Night practically embodies a biography of Elie's life within the clenches of death. Elie draws himself as a commoner living in a relatively peaceful town away from the German/Russian theatre. He possesses family consisting of three sisters, his mother, and his father, Shlomo. He seemingly wants the reader to be able to relate to his life prior to Auschwitz in order to hammer the horrors of his hell into the hearts of his readers. Elie's character possesses the purity of man as he continually wishes to do best for his fellow man. He attempts to encourage a fallen comrade to push onwards in order to survive, however, his efforts prove futile which immediately reflects another aspect of his character. After his friend refuses to continue his suffering, Elie seemingly forgets of his existence and continues his march of death as if he has became so well acquainted with Abaddon, the Hebrew Angel of Destruction,that the sight of the Reaper no longer phases him. This proves the ability of the SS to effectively beat what makes someone a human out of a human. Without humanity, man reverts to that of a beast, or in this case, cattle. Elie's experiences in Auschwitz also robs him of his faith in god and humanity. "Behind me, I heard the same man asking: 'Where is God now?' And I heard a voice within me answer him: 'Where is He? Here He is--He is hanging here on this gallows.'" Elie's resentment of God distinguishes the depth of hopelessness in his situation.
The setting of Elie's hell has haunted the hearts of all those who have suffered from within those fences. The walls of Auschwitz can be compared to that of a slaughterhouse, and her inmates are the cattle, but instead of the healthy being sent off to their demise, the weak are the ones hastened to their deaths. The halls were they rest possess nothing to provide warmth or comfort. Prisoners are given rags as a means to cover themselves. Disease and starvation ensues as the average prisoner is provided a small piece of bread and occasionally soup. Corpses litter the grounds until they are hauled away by their brothers and perhaps the most daunting addition to the suffering, the smoke stacks. Bellows of smoke rise into the heavens along with the ashes of their friends and family, leaving an eerie reminder to all of the prisoners that insolence and weakness will not be tolerated.
I recommend Night to anyone who wish to learn more about the trials and travails of a real story of survival rather than these silly teeny bopper books such as the Hunger Games. Anyone, who in fact enjoyed Night, should read Un di Velt Hot Geshvign in an English translation, of course. The latter book is an extended version of Night and more in depth as a result.
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