The Memoir “Night” by Elie Wiesel Essay

Dehumanization refers to the practice where the Nazis progressively deprived the Jews of fundamental human qualities, which in turn disrupted or irritated them. Wiesel being a young Jewish boy at the occurrence of the holocaust encountered both physical and mental torture while also viewing his fellows being tormented at the concentration camps. In the book titled “Night”, the Nazis became inhumane, making Eliezer and other Jews completely dehumanized. Explicitly, Eliezer was dehumanized through betrayal, mental conditioning, and starvation.

Firstly, Eliezer witnessed severe dehumanization when his friends were compelled to betray their loved ones and close families for them to survive. For instance: “I observed an old man dragging himself on all fours… he had a bit of bread under his shirt. With remarkable speed, he drew it out and put it to his mouth” (Wiesel, 2006, p. 101). The piece of evidentiary material depicts how an individual can kill his father over a loaf of bread. The event transformed Ellie’s identity, outlook, and attitude on how starvation can prompt an individual to murder his father over bread. The incident changed Eliezer’s attitude where the fulfillment of getting the bread at that particular period outweighed the life of his father. The extract also illustrates how the Jews were vehemently dehumanized at the concentration stations to a point of killing their close kin over food.

Secondly, the Jews passed through extreme starvation as a kind of dehumanization. Fasting hunger were a significant characterized their situation in Auschwitz. Eliezer delightedly viewed Germans through portions of bread when the author notes: “In the wagon where the bread had landed, a battle had ensued. Men were hurling themselves against each other, trampling, tearing at, and mauling each other. Beasts of prey unleashed and animal hate in their eyes.” (Wiesel, 2006, p. 101). It transformed Eliezer’s identity on fundamental humanity to the level where a fraction of bread becomes significantly essential than basic human principles.

Thirdly, dehumanization happened when mental conditioning denied Eliezer his Jews morals and beliefs. The Holocaust incident transformed him to such an extent where he no longer became sorrowful for the individuals killed. He states: “The thousands of people who died daily in Auschwitz and Birkenau, in the crematoria, no longer troubled me.” (Wiesel, 2006, p. 62). Therefore, this evidentiary piece depicts how mental torture and persistent death threats on him absolutely frozen him. The situation is dehumanizing since individuals should not be compelled to death. An instance of emotional indoctrination occurred when Eliezer’s father got punished since he could not march coherently. It is a depressing example since the concentration camp acclimatized his cognizance. He further felt that his father deserved some punishment because he failed to walk appropriately. These instances transformed Eliezer’s attitude, identity, and outlook by showing how inhumane treatment can mentally desensitize and alter its victims.

In conclusion, the memoir shows how Eliezer experienced and witnessed various instances of dehumanization across his journey and being held captives by Nazis. Throughout the effects and process of starvation, family abandoning, and emotional taming, dehumanization remained a bulbous reality and concern manifested in Wiesel’s Night. In his hard times, he encountered betrayal by the family, extreme hunger, and psychological conditioning as a kind of severe dehumanization. Moreover, several of these types of listed dehumanization overlap and can be caused by one another. The situation depicts that when fundamental human needs are denied, individuals can turn animalistic. The impact of dehumanization immensely contributed in attempting to live since the objective was survival but its numerous acts had obstructed that aim for many.

Reference

Wiesel, E. (2006). Night. Hill and Wang.