Night Personal Response
By David
World War 2 is a horrible memory for thousands of Holocaust
survivors and soldiers alike. Night, written by Elie Wiesel is a book about
his memories about his experiences during the Holocaust. The book has
some very disturbing scenes and gives a very descriptive passage about
the life of the prisoners to the Nazis.
First, is the style of the writer, Elie Wiesel. He uses easy words in his
sentences, which makes it easy for all to understand. Also he uses a lot of
description and narratives in the story. For example in the story he says
Pitch darkness. Every now and then, an explosion in the night. They had orders to fire
on any who could not keep up. Their fingers on the triggers, they did not deprive
themselves of this pleasure. If one of us had stopped for a second, a sharp shot
finished off another filthy son of a b#@$%.
He paints a picture of the horrible scenes he sees and has experienced
during the war. Night is a book in which the words are easy and clear, but
they are full of meaning. Although Night sees like a true story, it is a
novel/autobiography. Elie Wiesel himself doesn’t agree to Night as a
work of fiction
Second of all, the story is talking about the Holocaust. There are many
themes in the story; these are the inhumanity towards other humans, the
struggle for the prisoners to remain their faith in God, and the importance
of father-son bonds. First, there are a lot of examples of inhumanity
towards other humans in the story. The Nazis cruelty towards the Jews,
the pathetic rations they were fed, and the horrible conditions of the
living quarters. Second there is the faith in God. In the novel, as the Jews
live through more and more horrors, they question about their faith. For
example this is what Elizer said:
What are You, my God,” I thought angrily, “compared to this afflicted crowd,
proclaiming to You their faith, their anger, their revolt? What does Your greatness
mean, Lord of the universe, in the face of all this weakness, this decomposition, and
this decay? Why do You still trouble their sick minds, their crippled bodies?
In the end even the strongest believers began to question God and have
questions like Elizer’s. Third a last of all, is the father-son bond. This is
portrayed throughout the novel. In the beginning the father is shown as
the strong one, looking after and protecting Elie from dangers. Yet as the
story nears its end, Elie’s father gets weaker and weaker, in the end it is
Elie who is looking after and caring for his dad until his death. The
father-son bond is the incentive for both of them to fight for the will to
survive, it is one of the most significant and strongly shown themes in the
novel.
In summary, Night is an exciting and disturbing book. The book vividly
describes a life for Jews during World war 2 and teaches us many lessons
about life, from religion to human nature. It is book worthy of my
suggestion to my friends.