Adolescence serves the purpose of reorganizing the self and abandoning the security of childhood in the quest to forge a new identity. As adolescence sets in, teens naturally proceed through the ongoing task of separation and individuation from the family unit. Even under optimal circumstances, some teens face anxiety surrounding the new sense of responsibility; others appear to seamlessly leave this phase behind prepared for the accountability that comes with adulthood. Regardless of how difficult or simple this process may seem from the outside, those undergoing this growth are faced with an immeasurable amount of uncertainty and even a sense of nostalgia for the loss of childhood. In the most ideal of conditions, one undoubtedly experiences a wide range of emotions, but consider for a moment the uncertainty of a teen encountering this separation in the most brutal conditions imaginable.
Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night recounts the time he spent in a Nazi concentration camp, as a 15 year old boy, and his struggle to survive in this unforeseen course of events. His experiences in the camp force him to prematurely accept his father as the mortal man of the present over the idealized childlike view once held of him. The process of separation and individuation is complicated by life in the camps and the duty he feels to his father and their successful survival. Initially, he clings to the security he believes his father can provide but eventually begins the process of separation to save his own life; as a result, he loses his father forever. Wiesel’s sudden relocation to Auschwitz becomes a catalyst thrusting him into the uncertainty of emerging adulthood.
One of the most influential losses in the life of a teenager is the ...
... middle of paper ...
...ulthood, and according to Smollar and Younis, “the increase in adulthood is assumed to go along with biographical transitions such as the completion of schooling and marriage, which in turn present new contexts for the relationship” (75). Wiesel’s role change from child to caretaker fits the criteria of biographical transition, even though it was atypical and occurred over a short duration. The circumstances he experienced in the camp increased the momentum at which Wiesel moved through the adolescent phases.
Works Cited
Borowitz, Christopher. "The experiential modes of time in adolescence." Psychoanalytic Psychology 28.1 (2011): 132-144. Print.
Smollar, J., and J. Youniss. "Transformations is adolescents' perception of parents." International Journal of Behavioral Development 12 (1989): 71-84. Print.
Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Bantam Books, 1986. Print.
Six million Jews died during World War II by the Nazi army under Hitler who wanted to exterminate all Jews. In Night, Elie Wiesel, the author, recalls his horrifying journey through Auschwitz in the concentration camp. This memoir is based off of Elie’s first-hand experience in the camp as a fifteen year old boy from Sighet survives and lives to tell his story. The theme of this memoir is man's inhumanity to man. The cruel events that occurred to Elie and others during the Holocaust turned families and others against each other as they struggled to survive Hitler's and the Nazi Army’s inhumane treatment.
We are introduced to adolescence in the 5th stage of development. Adolescence begins for boys around the age of 14 and continues up until the age of 21 years of age. At this stage of development, there are many changes that occur emotionally, physically, sexually and spiritually (McGoldrick, Carter, & Garcia Preto, 2011). At this time, adolescent kids are going through changes in their body. They are dealing with coming into their own sexuality. Skills pertaining to social skills and social relationships are being developed through experience. Adolescents are also increasing their skills of physical and mental coordination, such as learning about the world and working on their own coordination. Adolescence is also characterized by learning their own identity and where they fit in the world, as well as learning their relationship with peers and those around them. Spiritual identity is also developed along with a deeper understanding of life. Independence is something that is also weighing on the mind of an adolescent. Overall changes in the family structure can also occur when a child of this age reaches this
Throughout the Nobel Peace Prize award winner Night, a common theme is established around dehumanization. Elie Wiesel, the author, writes of his self-account within the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. Being notoriously famed for its unethical methods of punishment, and the concept of laboring Jews in order to follow a regime, was disgusting for the wide public due to the psychotic ideology behind the concept. In the Autobiography we are introduced to Wiesel who is a twelve year old child who formerly lived in the small village of Sighet, Romania. Wiesel and his family are taken by the Nazi aggressors to the Concentration camp Auschwitz were they are treated like dogs by the guards. Throughout the Autobiography the guards use their authoritative
Elie Wiesel was considered to be one of those men, for he had his father working side by side with him. In the memoir Night, by Elie Wiesel, a young boy and his father were condemned to a concentration camp located in Poland. In the concentration camps, having family members along can be a great blessing, but also a burden. Elie Wiesel shows that the relationship with his father was the strength that kept the young boy alive, but was also the major weakness. Before Elie Wiesel and his father were deported, they did not have a significant relationship.
Authors sometimes refer to their past experiences to help cope with the exposure to these traumatic events. In his novel Night, Elie Wiesel recalls the devastating and horrendous events of the Holocaust, one of the world’s highest points for man’s inhumanity towards man, brutality, and cruel treatment, specifically towards the Jewish Religion. His account takes place from 1944-1945 in Germany while beginning at the height of the Holocaust and ending with the last years of World War II. The reader will discover through this novel that cruelty is exemplified all throughout Wiesel's, along with the other nine million Jews’, experiences in the inhumane concentration camps that are sometimes referred to as “death factories.”
‘Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done’” (Wiesel 91). The topic of a father and son relationship is extremely personal to Wiesel, which makes him hark back to how he was raised: religiously. Though clouded with a sense of reality from his experience in the camps, Wiesel still has hints of hope in his view of the world from his upbringing in Sighet. Thus, our upbringing affects much of the way we see the
There comes a time in every individual’s life when a tragic event results in the loss of innocence. During World War 2, the Holocaust robbed Jewish children like Wiesel of their innocence. Before the Holocaust, Wiesel described himself as an ordinary and innocent teenager. After he was imprisoned in the concentration camp due to the simple fact he was Jewish, Elie witnessed an extraordinary amount of inhumanity that robbed him of his innocence. One significant event that contributed to depriving his innocence was the mass murder that took place. While in the camp, Elie saw smoke from burning bodies day after day. “Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall forget those flames which consumed my faith forever.” (Wiesel 32). The burning of the Jewish played a major role in the robbing of Elie’s innocence. Witnessing these murders exposed the young man to the evil the Nazis committed. Elie was a young and impressionable boy who was a witness of pure evil. Witnessing the evil contributed to his loss of innocence. “When they withdrew, next to me were two corpses, side by side, the father and son. I was fifteen tears old” (Wiesel 95). Wiesel saw corpses of a father and son that could have ...
When people are placed in difficult, desolate situations, they often change in a substantial way. In Night by Elie Wiesel, the protagonist, Elie, is sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp where he undergoes many devastating experiences. Due to these traumatic events, Elie changes drastically, losing his passion in God, becoming disconnected with his father, and maturing when it matters most.
In Eliezer Wiesel’s novel “Night”, it depicts the life of a father and son going through the concentration camp of World War II. Both Eliezer and his father are taken from their home, where they would experience inhuman and harsh conditions in the camps. The harsh conditions cause Eliezer and his father’s relationship to change. During their time in the camps, Eliezer Wiesel and his father experience a reversal of their roles.
In Elie Wiesel’s Night, he recounts his horrifying experiences as a Jewish boy under Nazi control. His words are strong and his message clear. Wiesel uses themes such as hunger and death to vividly display his days during World War II. Wiesel’s main purpose is to describe to the reader the horrifying scenes and feelings he suffered through as a repressed Jew. His tone and diction are powerful for this subject and envelope the reader. Young readers today find the actions of Nazis almost unimaginable. This book more than sufficiently portrays the era in the words of a victim himself.
Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, is an account about his experience through concentration camps and death marches during WWII. In 1944, fifteen year old Wiesel was one of the many Jews forced onto cattle cars and sent to death and labor camps. Their personal rights were taken from them, as they were treated like animals. Millions of men, women, children, Jews, homosexuals, Gypsies, disabled people, and Slavic people had to face the horrors the Nazi’s had planned for them. Many people witnessed and lived through beatings, murders, and humiliations. Throughout the memoir, Wiesel demonstrates how oppression and dehumanization can affect one’s identity by describing the actions of the Nazis and how it changed the Jewish
Many themes exist in Night, Elie Wiesel’s nightmarish story of his Holocaust experience. From normal life in a small town to physical abuse in concentration camps, Night chronicles the journey of Wiesel’s teenage years. Neither Wiesel nor any of the Jews in Sighet could have imagined the horrors that would befall them as their lived changed under the Nazi regime. The Jews all lived peaceful, civilized lives before German occupation. Eliezer Wiesel was concerned with mysticism and his father was “more involved with the welfare of others than with that of his own kin” (4). This would change in the coming weeks, as Jews are segregated, sent to camps, and both physically and emotionally abused. These changes and abuse would dehumanize men and cause them to revert to basic instincts. Wiesel and his peers devolve from civilized human beings to savage animals during the course of Night.
A parent's involvement typically begins early in a child's life. When a child first opens his or her eyes they should see their parent's smiling faces looking back at them. As the child continues to grow up and develop their parent's constant presence in their lives provides structure. But for some children they do not receive this kind of stability from their parents due to early separation from their parents. Children can be separated from their parents by a multitude of causes like death, adoption, incarnated, foster care, substance abuse and others. Children at the age of three years old or younger are very sensitive to the issue. Parents play an important role in our lives. Our parents help us form who we want to become and our own identity. When children are separated permanently or for an extended period of time from their parents, this can cause a child to respond to the situation in a negative manner (McIntosh, 2010). The loss of a parent or both parents can be detrimental to child's life. The loss can leave behind a scaring effect on a child and could remain with them their entire lives. Early separation from parents can cause children to develop behavioral problems in response to the situation.
During adolescence, teens are engaged in forming their position in society and in developing social connections with their peers. The transition from childhood to adolescence can place them in a distressful and unstable status like social isolation and loneliness. Teens may begin to feel confused or insecure about themselves and how they fit in to society. Teens may experiment with different roles, activities and behaviors when they seek to establish a sense of self. According to Erikson, this is important process in forming a strong identity and developing a sense of direction in life.
Adolescent DevelopmentHave you ever wondered why people act the way they do, or have the interests that they do? Have you ever wondered how or why someone, maybe even yourself, has picked the career choice or life path? Have you ever been in a situation where you have said to yourself, “Wow what I just said sounds exactly like my mom or dad.”? There are many theories as to why you might have these questions or experiences, and most have to do with the process of growing up, or adolescent development. Some of the theories that will be explored throughout this piece will be nature/nurture, continuous/discontinuous development, and early/late experience and the interplay between them that occurs during this process. Nature vs. NurtureThe question