Elie Wiesel A Survivor Of The Holocaust

Elie Wiesel: A Survivor Of The Holocaust Essay, Research Paper

Elie Wiesel wrote in a mystical and existentialistic manner to depict his life as a victim of the holocaust in his many novels. Such selections as .Night. and .The Trial of God. reveal the horrors of the concentration camps and Wiesel’s true thoughts of the years of hell that he encountered. This hell that Wiesel wrote about was released later in his life due to his shock, sadness, and disbelief. Elie Wiesel spoke in third person when writing his stories. Unlike other Holocaust stories, Wiesel gave not only the facts but also the horrific and realistic feelings of a victim in the camps. All of Elie Wiesel.s novels were based on his life.

At the age of 15, Eliezer Wiesel and his family were placed into concentration camps in Auschwitz. Wiesel accompanied his family for most of the time in the camps. He parted from his mother and sister Tzipora early in life and lived with his father during the years of the Holocaust. During his time in the concentration camps, Wiesel endured tons of pain. When he first reached the concentration camp Eliezer Wiesel witnessed the most disturbing thing. Tons of babies were being thrown into the air and shot to death. .As they marched closer and closer to the ditch, Eliezer decided that rather then let himself be thrown into the fire, he would try to break away and throw himself against the electrified fence that surrounded the camp.. (Pariser 23) It was at

that point that Elie and his father knew that they were going to experience the worst years of their life. On April 11, 1945, the two were free from the concentration camp. He was silent for many years and chose not to speak of his suffering. Eventually he spoke and made a pact that he would never be silent again. Eliezer Wiesel stated, “And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.. (Pariser 40) And Mr. Wiesel wasn.t.

Among those novels that Wiesel wrote, the one that captured the most attention was Night. Night was one of Eliezer Wiesel.s greatest novels. Night is the true story of his experiences in the concentration camps. Some of the main characters in Night were real people in Wiesel.s life. Wiesel is called by his first name Elie in this story. In the beginning of the story, Elie speaks of his Jewish mysticism teacher Moshe the Beadle who is a poor Jew in the town of Sighet. Moshe plays an important role on Elie Wiesel.s life. Everything that Moshe teaches young Elie represents the faith and beliefs that he used to have in the Jewish religion. Elie.s father Chlomo is highly looked upon in the Jewish community of Sighet and by his son. Together, Elie and his father try to survive the horrors of the concentration camps. Night takes place during World War 2 (1941-1945) in a little town in Transylvania called Sighet. Elie and his father travel through several different concentration camps during the story: Auschwitz, Berkenau, Buna, Gleiwitz, and Buchenwald. The main conflict in Night is Elie.s struggle for survival in the concentration camps and his struggle for his father to survive with him. Several different themes present themselves in this story. The biggest theme is the relationship between father and son. The book follows both Elie and his father.s imprisonments

within the Concentration camps. Another theme is man.s relationship with God. Elie contemplates the existence of God quite frequently throughout the novel especially in the quote,

.Yes, man is very strong, greater than God. When You were deceived by Adam and Eve, You drove them out of Paradise. When Noah.s generation displeased You, You brought down the Flood. When Sodom no longer found favor in Your eyes, You made the sky rain down fire and sulfur. But these men here, who You have betrayed, who You have allowed to be tortured, butchered, gassed, burned, what do they do. They pray before You! They praise Your name!. (Wiesel 64)

In this quote, little Elie does not understand why God helped the Jews in previous situations but not when they needed Him the most. Silence is also an important theme. Elie and his father realized that silence was the only way to survive. Another entity that was silent was God. God had done nothing to help the Jews. The events that occurred in the holocaust were so horrible that people remained silent for many years after the war.

Wiesel’s writing style makes his novels, a mixture of biography and fiction, interesting to read to anyone that picks up his books. The stories themselves, however, are often obscure and stubbornly depressing. The narrator of his novels (himself) refuses to admit any happiness to his life, even when it is quite possible to do so. The books that Elie Wiesel wrote were very easy to picture because of how articulate his writing style was. The story line went from one event to the next. .Through his fiction,

prose poems, essays, and dramas, he has attempted to reconcile the evil of Nazi

Germany and the apparent indifference of God, thereby reaffirming his life and faith.. (Marowski 449) Most of Elie Wiesel.s novels were written in a lyrical and impressionistic prose style. His novels are said to .explore fate and the effect of the Holocaust upon present experience.. (Marowski 550) The characters in his novels represent people in his own life.

Elie Wiesel wrote in