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'Empathy In Elie Wiesel's Night'

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There are many individuals who believe that empathy is the solution to all of life’s problems; however, the truth of the matter is that empathy alone is not enough. This reality is demonstrated through various forms of literature. To begin with, in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose battles with a terminal illness and morphine addiction. Regardless of the amount of compassion the other characters may show towards her, it is not enough to save her life. Likewise, in Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, Mrs. Schächter suffers from terrifying hallucinations which cause her to scream relentlessly about fire and flames. Even if the other individuals on the train try to empathize with her, they are unable to help her …show more content…
Schachter who was among them in the train car to Auschwitz. According to Elie, Mrs. Schachter was accidentally separated from her husband and two older sons and was mentally affected by the turn of events. By the first day of the journey, she began to hallucinate and continually screamed “Fire! I see a fire!” Given her mental state, no degree of empathy could stop her hallucinations. Initially, the people on the train try to comfort her by placing a damp rag on her forehead despite the lack of water but she nevertheless continues to scream. The other Jews in the train car grew increasingly fearful, hungry, thirsty and sleep deprived. In the situation that they were in, even if they had a highly developed sense of empathy, it would only be a matter of time before they reached their limit. Elie describes the atmosphere as tension rises “Our terror could no longer be contained. Our nerves had reached a breaking point. Our very skin was aching. It was as though madness had infected all of us. We gave up”. They resorted to striking and gagging Mrs. Schachter to silence her. Regardless of how highly developed ones sense of empathy is, when faced with certain circumstances, it can still be

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