Introduction to “Night”
”Night”, written by Elie Wiesel, is an agonizing narration of the life of a young Jew during the holocaust. It was first published in 1956, the work presents a very raw and authentic account of the concentration camps of the Nazis. Wiesel’s realistic description of the events he has experienced provides the readers with a first-hand view of the suffering of the people in concentration camps, as well as an insight into the theme of faith and human endurance.
The memoir is the account of Wiesel’s experience from the childhood in Sighet, Romania to the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. In “Night”, the author shows how evil human beings are capable of and how some still managed to find strength to live. In his work, he captures themes that are relevant in the society today and at the same time touches on the evil nature of the people and the search for hope in a society filled with pain.
Themes in “Night”
Theme#1
The Struggle to Maintain Faith
“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.”
The author has provided one of the most dominant themes of the work, which is the struggle to maintain faith in the face of overwhelming evil. The events that are described by Wiesel in the concentration camps greatly influence the main character’s attitude towards God.
The above passage illustrates this theme because Wiesel describes how he sees children being burned. This event is the starting point of his spiritual breakdown as the quencher of his faith: the horror of the Holocaust, the murder of millions of innocent people without reason.
Moreover, Wiesel struggles with his faith in the course of the memoir, which demonstrates how the Holocaust affected the spiritual dimension of the victims.
Theme#2
Inhumanity and Cruelty
“Human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere.”
Night focuses on the concepts of inhumanity and cruelty which Wiesel’s memoir highlights that the worst of humanity is capable of. The horrible living conditions in the concentration camps, the cruelty of the SS officers, and the barbary of other inmates all make reference to this theme.
Thus, the statement under consideration focuses on the idea that suffering is a common phenomenon that should be recognized and addressed by the people. Wiesel’s accounts of the concentration camps help in painting a vivid picture of the suffering that millions of the people went through during the holocaust.
Theme#3
The Loss of Innocence
“The night was gone. The morning star shone in the sky. I too had become a different person. The student of Talmud, the child I was, had been consumed in the flames. There remained only a shape that looked like me. A dark flame had entered into my soul and devoured it.”
Another major theme in “Night” is the loss of innocence. Wiesel goes to the concentration camps as a young teenager, filled with faith and a bright future. However, the constant harshness and pain that he faces quickly removes his innocence.
The above passage is an epitome of this realization by Wiesel that the person he was once, is no longer exists. The holocaust prepares him to face the dark side of humanity, which causes to lose his premature innocence.
Theme#4
The Importance of Memory and Bearing Witness
“For in the end, it is all about memory, its sources and its magnitude, and, of course, its consequences.”
The importance of memory and bearing witness is the major theme of the novel. The novel serves as an intricate act of remembrance and as a testimony to the Holocaust events. The above quote gives emphasis on memory as a crucial component that gives acknowledgment to the past.
For Wiesel to survive and bear witness was to ensure that people are informed of the cruelties of the world again. Thus acquiring a freedom of speech Wiesel manages to pay tribute to the innocent victims and make sure that people never forget the pain that they suffered.
Theme#5
The Struggle for Survival
“Pressed tightly against one another, in an effort to resist the cold, our heads empty and heavy, our brains a whirlwind of decaying memories. Our minds numb with indifference. Here or elsewhere, what did it matter? Die today or tomorrow, or later? The night was growing longer, never ending.”
Power and struggle is one of the major themes in “Night”. The daily fight of survival is portrayed in “Night” by Wiesel through illustrating the camp’s life. The prisoners suffer starving, diseases, and cuts from whippings and other brutalities.
From the above passage one gets to see how the struggle of surviving carnival is a physical as well as psychological one as prisoner’s degenerate into mere shadows of their former selves. However, the desire to fight for ones life goes on, which shows that at the worst of circumstances, people can pull through.
Theme#6
Father-Son Relationships
“My father’s presence was the only thing that stopped me from allowing myself to die… I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support.”
The relationships that “Night” presents as most central and important are between fathers and sons. Wiesel’s relationship with his father becomes a critical part of his reason for living. The passage reflects the dependency between the two by the way Wiesel drew strength from his father and the way his father gave him strength to survive from the camps.
It captures spirit of family and humanity when people are exposed to this kind of suffering exclusive of their fellow human beings. The memoir rather heart-wrenching narrates the diminishing relationship between them as the camps’ harshness unfolds.
Theme#7
Dehumanization
“From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes as he gazed has never left me.”
Dehumanization is the significant theme in the novel. The prisoners of the concentration camps in “Night” lose all the aspects of their humanity and become mere numbers and things. The excerpt of the novel where Wiesel looks at himself in the mirror and sees a ‘corpse’ paints a graphic picture of how he was dehumanized.
The harsh treatment and inmates’ living conditions cause prisoners to relinquish their personality and value. Through his experience, Wiesel narrates the influence of this dehumanization and intervenes and therefore speaks for human dignity as opposed to dehumanization.
See also: Themes in Death of a Salesman
Theme#8
Silence
“Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live.”
Silence continues throughout the novel, and it symbolizes the two major aspects of the camp and the world: silence from the atrocious act of holocaust; and indifference from the whole world. The above passage describes the effect of this silence on Wiesel’s will to live so significantly.
Thus, the absence of the light symbolizes the absence of hope, and the desperation of the prisoners reflected by the word “Nocturnal silence”. Furthermore, silence is also present not only in the sense of character omitting something but also in the context of the world not responding to the happening atrocities. Wiesel’s memoir interrupts this silence and informs the world what happened, and the suffering that they went through.
Theme#9
Identity and Self-Preservation
“Here, every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else… Here, there are no fathers, no brothers, no friends. Everyone lives and dies for himself alone.”
The theme of identity and self-preservation is revealed, as prisoners have to stay alive at any cost. The camps erase the prisoners’ previous existence by giving them degrading numbers as their names.
The above passage is illustrative of the grim and remorseless necessity of survival in the camps which engulfs individuals leaving behind all that is dear to them, stripping persons of their humanity by abstracting them of everything they cared for – relatives and friends alike.
This theme tends to show how the holocaust was disastrous to human dignity because humans were forced to shed their ethical and social selves in their quest to live.
Theme#10
Hopelessness and Despair
“The night was growing longer, never ending.”
In the novel, “Night”, hopelessness and despair is a common theme; the constant torment of the concentration camps create a state of permanent night for the prisoners. The following quote symbolizes the extent of their suffering and the fact that it was continuous.
It is night, which stands for despair, and the night seems to have no end, and there is no possibility of change. This theme captures the general feeling of despair that is dominant in the memoir since Wiesel and other prisoners try to seek for hope in midst of suffering.
See also: Themes in Twelfth Night
