"Night Essay"

Many people's lives are changed and shaped by their environment. In the memoir "Night" by Elie Wiesel, a story is told of the Holocaust, a genocide against the Jewish race. This event affected and changed many victims live's; this memoir particularly portrays Elie Wisel's life in the Holocaust. The horrific and profuse events Wiesel experienced changed the way he looked at life. The central conflict in "Night" is self because of the life changing situations Elie Wisel faced during the Holocaust.

When Wiesel and other Jewish people were taken to Nazi concentration camps, their former lives had been completely uprooted and changed. Holocaust victims had never been exposed to the horrors of the Holocaust. "People refused not only to believe his stories, but even to listen to them,"(Wisel 4). Many Jews refused to believe the horrific events told of the survivors. They couldn't accept it; it was the twentieth century, and no act had ever been committed so atrocious before. This alone is why many Jewish people's lives had been dramatically changed. During he Holocaust, their lives had been filled with ongoing events so abhorrent that many became disturbed forever. At first exposure, many victims hope's were high. They didn't know the full extent of the holocaust barbarity. They still felt the freedom and hope of their former lives. "Let the world learn of the existence of Auschwitz. Let everybody hear about it while they can still escape..."(Wisel 29). Many did not know of the reality of the Holocaust. Their lives had not yet been affected by it. Because of this, they felt their was still a chance of hope. These feelings were temporary though; their lives would soon change. 

Eventually, Elie had learned of the reality of the Holocaust. He and other victims were consequently beginning to loose the former hope they once possessed. "'Where is He? Here He is-He is hanging, here on the gallows.'"(Wisel 162). Victims began to loose faith in life. They no longer felt any need to live, not with a threat of death looming over their heads. They had been exposed to the worst; friends, family, and loved ones deaths. They felt their death coming too and began to accept their fate. This was the end for many victims. They no longer had a need to live. 

In Elie's case, he witnessed his father slowly die. Once his father died, he lost hope. He no longer cared about anything in his surrounding world. "'Here, every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else. Even of his father. Here there are no fathers, no brothers, no friends. Everyone lives and dies alone,"(Wisel 105). He developed a mentality based only on survival. He had nothing else to loose. The Holocaust had changed his mentality towards life; he had lost all hope. 

Eli's life was dramatically changed because of the Holocaust. He lost everything and because of this lost hope in himself. His life was based from hope to survival. He himself had been radically changed. I suppose Wisel wrote his memoir to send a message or remembrance; events like the Holocaust should never happen again.