Night, by Elie Wiesel

“One more stab to the heart, one more reason to hate,” Elie wrote, “one less reason to live” (109). Hope is defined as the feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen (Definition of Hope). Night, by Elie Wiesel, is a poignant novel set during the Holocaust, depicting the gruesome treatment he, along with countless other Jews, endured during World War II by the Nazis. They were confined in concentration camps, which were massive areas of land where Jews and others would undergo constant malfeasance. They suffered from stunning malnutrition, poor sanitation, and other despicable living conditions. Many were sent to die, in vast numbers, when their skills were deemed inadequate. Methods of annihilation included cremation, hanging, gunfire, and ultimately gas chambers. Other causes of death included starvation and disease. Elie was transferred to many different camps and made it out alive not by resisting, but by mostly doing as told. The Holocaust culminated with the genocide of over six million Jews as well as many others. Only a teenager at the time, Elie is one of the few Holocaust survivors left to tell their story today. Those who survived were typically left with no money, no family, and no place to go. Night does not offer hope because of Elie’s loss of faith in his religion, the changes in what the Jews considered important in life, and the malaise and feeling of emptiness that still consumes Elie even to this day.

Elie was different than the other Jewish teenagers that surrounded him. His curiosity and belief in Judaism was much stronger. Consequently, God was a major part of his life. As the Nazi’s evil deeds on the Jews kept expanding, however, his religious beliefs started to wane. The most pro...

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...at continues to follow Elie. Atrocities such as the Holocaust are occurring even in today’s world in places such as North Korea, and that is truly a shame. People can take steps towards preventing these horrific events by educating themselves about what is going on in other parts of the world and pushing fellow nations to advocate against it. The Holocaust may be over, but the world cannot pretend it did not happen and must take the proper steps to ensure that these atrocities are stopped … and never forgotten.

Work Cited

"Definition of Hope in English." Hope: Definition of Hope in Oxford Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.

Greenfield, Jeff. "Elie Wiesel On Loss, Starting Over." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 16 May 2009. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. Print.