Night by Elie Wiesel - Book Report/Review Example

Running Head: English A Response to Elie Wiesel’s Night A Critique Elie Wiesel, in his grim depiction of the Holocaust in Night, tries to stir up a sympathetic response in the reader to the experience of Holocaust survivors. With no loathing, Wiesel wants these atrocious events to emotionally and psychologically disturb the readers. He wants the reader to see him/herself as both the tormenter and the sufferer in order for him/her to understand that these two personalities are possible in all individuals.

While putting into life his work, Wiesel, maybe unintentionally, created his role: him being the main lamenter for and the voice of the unknown slaughtered Jews and him as the sense of right and wrong of the Western culture. The central issue explored in the Night is theology, or more specifically, the fight to trust in the compassion and fairness of God when humanity crafted by the Supreme Being is crammed with wickedness. Eliezer, the male protagonist, inhabited a religious, peaceful, and virtuous Jewish community.

Unfortunately and paradoxically, the religious devotion of these Jews incapacitated them and ushered them into the cruel and merciless company of the Nazis. Pulled out from that sanctuary, the young Eliezer is pushed into the night of their destroyers’ authority and whims. He is powerless and defenseless in the company of malevolence. He does not have the protection of prayers and the guidance and reassurance of his trusted divine tomes. Struggling to give praise to the Lord while seeing the agony, pain, and misery in the concentration camps is like swimming in a sea of fire; the faith of the Jews are razed in the camps.

The captives exclaimed in anguish: “Where is God now?” Hence the boy rebels against the Messiah. Eliezer should restore his religious devotion, perhaps in another place and time. Basically, Wiesel’s account narrates the tale of a boy’s religious fight and his reacceptance of the presence of God. However, in spite of the gruesomeness of the Night, there remains a shade of glory. It dwells in the resolve of Eliezer to maintain his relationship or attachment to his father although the Messiah has, in his belief, breached His promise with the Jews.

Ultimately, sadly, the boy cannot do anything to ease the suffering of his weak father. The boy, who at times, as expected, wanted to be eased of the yoke of his failing father, is abandoned with an eternal remorse because he is not able to relieve his father of agony, the father who had rescued him from harm many times. Only Eliezer and his father showed a warm and caring relationship in the concentration camps, for the Nazis intentionally degraded their captives, promoted brutish and inhuman conduct, so they could treat their prisoners as lowly creatures, unworthy of love and respect.

The most excruciating theme the reader should take in from Night is that starvation, torment, dehumanization, and insistent agony do not bring into the surface something good in individuals. Most frequently, they turn people to savages as they wrestle to survive. References Wiesel, E. & Wiesel, M. (2008). Night. Penguin Group.