The Old Man And The Sea Critical Analysis

In life, people are often left wondering what it truly means to be a good person and what the true qualities are that make them a human. The dark side of humanity can sometimes ruin the good side, as shown in Night by Elie Wiesel and The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway, however there are a few people who will keep fighting until the end, even if all humanity and comfort is removed. Shown throughout the two novels, there is destruction, loss of faith as well as the positive aspects of human nature, and darkness, which leaves readers pondering what it truly means to be human.

Firstly, the concentration camps which are, as proven in Night, a zone of destruction for all that is good and human, show how a man's body can be destroyed, but as long as they keep fighting, they can't be defeated. Elie Weisel writes about how the concentration camps were places where there was no humanity and how that took away from the prisoners humanity. The Nazi's treated the prisoners with hatred, violence and cruelty. Wiesel writes, "He threw himself on me like a wild beast, crushing me with even more violent blows" (Wiesel, p. 53). Weisel was treated very poorly, he saw the darkest side of humanity, and as a result he started losing his own humanity and lossing faith in others and God. Later, when Weisel's father dies, he doesn't shed a tear, he writes, "...I had no more tears. And, in the depths of my being, in the recesses of my weakened conscience, could I have searched it, I might perhaps have found something like-free at last!" (Weisel 106). He has lost so much of his humanity that he can't even cry about his father's death, so much that he is even relieved, and he is also still fighting death, so he is not yet defeted. Also, the man...

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...ighting his father, he kept going until they were dead because he had lost the ability to love even his own family. Love and compassion are both crucial qualities for a human to have, and when it is taken away, people are no longer recognizable as themselves, much like the prisoners of the Holocaust.

In both books, the people are left as near empty shells, but are somehow still standing there and still able to feel compassion and love. Elie Wiesel went through the worst experiences imaginable, however he somehow made it out and is still standing and still has the capability to love and feel compassion, and the old man returned near death as well, but also kept pushing himself, and even felt some compassion for the fish he followed into the sea. Humanity is an essential part of the world, and if it is lost, the world and all the people in it will be destroyed.