Premium Essay

How Does Elie Wiesel Lose Innocence

Submitted By
Words 977
Pages 4
Robert South, an English churchman once said “Innocence is like polished armor; it adorns and defends.” This relates to the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel because when the Jews first arrived in the camps, they did not know what was about to happen to them. Once the Jews learned of what would happen, they lost that innocence. The memoir Night by Elie Wiesel is about Elie’s experiences changing from an observant Jew into a walking corpse due to the horrific experiences that occurred whilst he was in the Nazi camps. A primary theme in the memoir is Eliezer’s loss of innocence as a result of the experiences he endures during the Holocaust. Firstly, when Eliezer was torn from his hometown and brought to Birkenau, he witnessed many horrific events …show more content…
Eliezer and his father were assigned to work in a warehouse where they counted pieces of electrical equipment under the watchful eye of the kapo, or work leader, Idek. One day, Eliezer witnessed Idek with a Polish girl and was whipped because of it. “I no longer felt anything except the lashing of the whip. ‘One! … Two! …’ he was counting” (57). The pain that the whip inflicted on Eliezer was the most intense that he had ever felt. He lost the innocence of being a child. Later, when the Nazis discovered secreted weapons and grenades, they decided to hang three prisoners. Two were adult prisoners and one was a little boy. Both grown men die almost instantly but because the child was so light, he fought for his life for thirty minutes. “Then came the march past the victims. The two men were no longer alive. Their tongues were hanging out, swollen and bluish. But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing…. And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes. And we were forced to look at him at close range. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extinguished” (64). Once again, Eliezer is exposed to the evil of man. The people that Eliezer and his father are introduced to are very harsh and show a deep hatred for the Jewish

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

How Does Elie Wiesel Lose Innocence

...events results in the loss of innocence and an increase in knowledge. Therefore, this relief in one’s life is unavoidable, however can be drawn out with isolation from the world. Some people experience this ablution happens sooner in their life then anticipated. The survivor who are children and young adult survived the holocaust in death camps, lose their guiltlessness as soon as they walked through the gates into captivity. In the Night written by Elie Wiesel, his description of himself as a youngster, innocent teenager, whose innocence was taken from him as the consequence of the horror during the World War Two. Before Wiesel was restricted into a concentration...

Words: 1246 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Elie Wiesel’s Loss of Innocence

...Elie Wiesel’s Loss of Innocence There comes a time in one’s life where a tragic event results in the loss of innocence and an increase in knowledge. Unfortunately this is one of life’s few promises. Some experience this ablution a lot sooner than they should. In children who survived the holocaust in concentration camps, their innocence was taken as soon as their ordinary everyday life was imposed upon by the Nazis. In Elie Wiesel’s book Night, he describes himself as an innocent teenager, a child whose innocence was taken from him as the result of the nefariousness performed by the Nazis in World War Two. Elie and his family were transported to Birkenau where his family was torn apart, leaving him with his father, his sisters and his mother. Once they were separated, he began to slowly lose his innocence. Towards the end of 1941, in the small village of Sighet, Hungary, twelve-year-old Elie Wiesel spent most of his time studying the Talmud. Elie was one of four children born to his mother and father. Hilda was the eldest, then Bea, he was the third, and Tzipora was the youngest. The two eldest sisters helped the parents run the family store while Elie stayed home to study. Elie was very passionate about the theology of his religion, Judaism. He studied Talmud by day and by night he would go to the synagogue to pray. One of his main interests was Kabbalah which is an aspect of Jewish mysticism. Elie asked his father to find him a master to guide him in his...

Words: 2010 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Reflection On Night By Elie Wiesel

...horrendous as survivors explained. The book ‘“Night’” written by Elie Wiesel does just that as it describes in detail the events that unfolded. In ‘Night,’ Elie is continuously relies on his faith and beliefs to continue fighting. Being constantly surrounded by savages or men that lost faith and gave up causes Elie to question his faith from time to time. Humans in general have a repulsive nature, this is then magnified when pushed to the limit. Not even Elie can escape the evilness in human nature, however, he attempts to keep his innocence or sanity the best out of anyone he encounters. Both witnessing and...

Words: 780 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Night, By Elie Wiesel: Literary Analysis

...other groups that lasts from 1933 to 1945 under the control of a German dictator, Adolf Hitler. Elie Wiesel is only 15 years old when he and his family are sent to Auschwitz and 16 years old when he is liberated from the concentration camp. In his memoir, Night, Elie Wiesel demonstrates the loss of Jewish identity during the Holocaust through his use of literary devices: personification, foreshadowing, and metaphors. The Jews experience a loss of identity and self value before they even get to the camps due to the dehumanizing acts of authoritative...

Words: 1118 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Night Essay

...Elie Wiesel’s Break Of Silence One of the most dreadful events in the history of mankind: the Holocaust during World War II. The holocaust was a genocide of Jews, homosexuals, mentally handicapped, and crippled. The holocaust killed more than six million Jews alone. Elie Wiesel is a Jew who went through the terror of the holocaust and its concentration camp. He tells his story in his book Night. Night reveals how Wiesel lost his family, faith, and innocence to the evil of mankind during the holocaust. Wiesel believes it is important for people today to read this book because they need to be shown how important it is not to keep silent and let something like the holocaust happen again. Elie has some of the most marvelous figurative language throughout the novel, starting off with some metaphors. Elie and the rest of the block are running to a peculiar concentration camp, with no rest Elie starts having speculation of what will happened if he stops running. “ A great ideal wave of men came rolling onward and would have crushed me like an ant” (87). No analysis How does this relate to the author’s purpose? The next phase awkward phrase is about when there was two cauldrons of soup in the middle of the road with no one to guard it. “Two lambs with hundreds of wolves lying in the wait for them. Two lambs without a shepherd, free for the taking. But who would dare?” (59) Have you ever been so mad at someone that everytime you talk to them you questioned them with anger or say...

Words: 699 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Night

...Author: Elie Wiesel Date of Publication: 1958 Genre: autobiography, memoir Historical information about period of publication: World War II, and the Holocaust, ended in April 1945 when the liberating Allied armies came through the conquered territories in Nazi Europe. Night describes 16 year old Elie’s loss of faith in God, humanity, family and morality in general. Elie, therefore, vowed to not speak of his experience in Auschwitz, Buna or Buchenwald (or any event between 1943 and 1945, from the beginning of the occupation of Hungary to Germany’s liberation in 1945) for ten years, until he had time to internalize this dramatic loss, and regain his faith and possession of his memory and life. In 1954, after realizing that even less than ten years after the end of the Holocaust, the world was already forgetting and Jews were abandoning their roots, the time had come to testify and justify to the world that Hitler had not succeeded. Biographical Information about the author: Eliezer “Elie” Wiesel was born on September 30, 1928 in Sighet Romania, where his memoir Night begins. In his childhood (up to the Nazi occupation of Romania) his father encouraged his study of the Torah, other Judaic texts and other literary works. As described in the beginning of Night, Elie was also curious about the realm of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. From 1944 to 1945, Elie and his family were subjected to the Nazi terror (will be described in the plot summary section). Elie and two of...

Words: 2916 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Fear In Elie Wiesel's Night

...the darkness, leaving behind only unease and uncertainty. In the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, night symbolizes the suffering of Eliezer in the nightmarish Holocaust which he lived through. During the hours of darkness, Eliezer experiences uncertainty in his ever-evolving situation, fear during his sleepless nights, and loss of those that he cares for. During the Holocaust, Jewish people are forced from their homes, forced from camp to camp, and forced to change against their will. Eliezer and his family anticipate their departure from the ghettos into the lethal uncertainty of this war against them. Eliezer’s mother instructs her children to “go to bed early [and] conserve [their] strength… [as] it was to be the last night spent in [their] house” (Wiesel 18). The night is expected to be a time of rest and rejuvenation; however, the nights proceeding a change are stressful and often represent the fleeting moments of security and consistency in their lives. Even when Eliezer spends his last night in Buna, he is fearful. He knows a change is approaching and despite his horrific circumstances, Eliezer knows it...

Words: 934 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Will Do Next Time

...Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank to accompany A First Look at Communication Theory Sixth Edition Em Griffin Wheaton College prepared by Glen McClish San Diego State University and Emily J. Langan Wheaton College Published by McGraw­Hill, an imprint of The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Copyright Ó 2006,  2003, 2000, 1997, 1994, 1991 by The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may be reproduced in print form  solely for classroom use with A First Look At Communication Theory provided such reproductions bear copyright notice, but may not be reproduced in  any other form or for any other purpose without the prior written consent of The McGraw­Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any  network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. PREFACE Rationale We agreed to produce the instructor’s manual for the sixth edition of A First Look at Communication Theory because it’s a first-rate book and because we enjoy talking and writing about pedagogy. Yet when we recall the discussions we’ve had with colleagues about instructor’s manuals over the years, two unnerving comments stick with us: “I don’t find them much help”; and (even worse) “I never look at them.” And, if the truth be told, we were often the people making such points! With these statements in mind, we have done some serious soul-searching about the texts that so many teachers—ourselves...

Words: 159106 - Pages: 637

Free Essay

Living History

...Simon & Schuster New York • London • Toronto • Sydney • Singapore To my parents, my husband, my daughter and all the good souls around the world whose inspiration, prayers, support and love blessed my heart and sustained me in the years of living history. AUTHOR’S NOTE In 1959, I wrote my autobiography for an assignment in sixth grade. In twenty-nine pages, most half-filled with earnest scrawl, I described my parents, brothers, pets, house, hobbies, school, sports and plans for the future. Forty-two years later, I began writing another memoir, this one about the eight years I spent in the White House living history with Bill Clinton. I quickly realized that I couldn’t explain my life as First Lady without going back to the beginning―how I became the woman I was that first day I walked into the White House on January 20, 1993, to take on a new role and experiences that would test and transform me in unexpected ways. By the time I crossed the threshold of the White House, I had been shaped by my family upbringing, education, religious faith and all that I had learned before―as the daughter of a staunch conservative father and a more liberal mother, a student activist, an advocate for children, a lawyer, Bill’s wife and Chelsea’s mom. For each chapter, there were more ideas I wanted to discuss than space allowed; more people to include than could be named; more places visited than could be described. If I mentioned everybody who has impressed, inspired, taught, influenced and...

Words: 217937 - Pages: 872

Free Essay

Test2

...62118 0/nm 1/n1 2/nm 3/nm 4/nm 5/nm 6/nm 7/nm 8/nm 9/nm 1990s 0th/pt 1st/p 1th/tc 2nd/p 2th/tc 3rd/p 3th/tc 4th/pt 5th/pt 6th/pt 7th/pt 8th/pt 9th/pt 0s/pt a A AA AAA Aachen/M aardvark/SM Aaren/M Aarhus/M Aarika/M Aaron/M AB aback abacus/SM abaft Abagael/M Abagail/M abalone/SM abandoner/M abandon/LGDRS abandonment/SM abase/LGDSR abasement/S abaser/M abashed/UY abashment/MS abash/SDLG abate/DSRLG abated/U abatement/MS abater/M abattoir/SM Abba/M Abbe/M abbé/S abbess/SM Abbey/M abbey/MS Abbie/M Abbi/M Abbot/M abbot/MS Abbott/M abbr abbrev abbreviated/UA abbreviates/A abbreviate/XDSNG abbreviating/A abbreviation/M Abbye/M Abby/M ABC/M Abdel/M abdicate/NGDSX abdication/M abdomen/SM abdominal/YS abduct/DGS abduction/SM abductor/SM Abdul/M ab/DY abeam Abelard/M Abel/M Abelson/M Abe/M Aberdeen/M Abernathy/M aberrant/YS aberrational aberration/SM abet/S abetted abetting abettor/SM Abeu/M abeyance/MS abeyant Abey/M abhorred abhorrence/MS abhorrent/Y abhorrer/M abhorring abhor/S abidance/MS abide/JGSR abider/M abiding/Y Abidjan/M Abie/M Abigael/M Abigail/M Abigale/M Abilene/M ability/IMES abjection/MS abjectness/SM abject/SGPDY abjuration/SM abjuratory abjurer/M abjure/ZGSRD ablate/VGNSDX ablation/M ablative/SY ablaze abler/E ables/E ablest able/U abloom ablution/MS Ab/M ABM/S abnegate/NGSDX abnegation/M Abner/M abnormality/SM abnormal/SY aboard ...

Words: 113589 - Pages: 455