Elie Wiesel's Night: Reaction Paper

Night Reaction Paper

#1 p. 78

This is the scene where Elie is in the hospital part of the camp because of the operation that he has just had done to his foot. After Elie and his father decide to stay, leave the hospital, and be evacuated with the rest of the camp, he explains how he found out that the Russians liberated the rest of the people in the hospital two days after the evacuation. This part absolutely floored me because I couldn’t imagine first, making that big a decision, and secondly, finding out that the decision changed the course of your life forever was a huge shocker. I couldn’t even imagine finding that out and not being frustrated with myself.

#2 p. 87

This is the part of the book where Rabbi Eliahou is looking for his son. He asks Elie if he has seen him, and Elie suddenly remembers that he did see him, and that he was in fact trying to lose his father in the midst of everyone running because he had become too much of a burden. This scene really affected me because I thought that it was horrible the way that a son would give up on his father and completely throw away the relationship that he has with him because of the conditions that they were going through. Since I have such a valued relationship with my mother, I could never imagine leaving her like that, but I guess that everyone changes drastically after being put through the torture that these people went through.

#3 p. 94

This is the scene where the S.S. comes into the cattle cars and orders that the Jews throw out all of the dead. After they rob the dead men of their clothes, they see Elie’s father. Some of the men try to throw him outside, even though he isn’t dead yet, but only Elie knows that. After arguing with the men, Elie shows the men that his father is breathing weakly and is still alive. I couldn’t ever imagine having to fight with someone to save my mother when she was still alive. In that situation, I think I would have just broken down a long time ago. I don’t think that I could have lasted as long as Elie did in the camps.