The book Night rarely focuses on positive emotions or actions. It includes only a few scenes that reveal hope as one of the themes. One example is a French girl helping Elie despite the prohibition and possible punishment.
Detailed answer:
Elie Wiesel was in his teenage years when the Nazi Government forced him to go through concentration camps. His time there, the loss of family, seeing death every day, and desperate desire to survive inspired a book Night. It includes many sketches and stories about the rough life of a Jewish boy. The narrative is relatively sparse and fragmented. However, the overall themes of struggle and overcoming appear clearly.
Wiesel’s story is about survival and faith, but some rare scenes also show hope’s existence. Today beating of people for the reason of their cultural background seems atrocious. During World War II, Elie experienced it as a reality. In one scene, the Germans beat the main character badly. A French girl later helps him recover and move to a safer place. She would receive punishment if anyone saw her breaking the rules. The girl’s choice of assisting Elie shows that there is a place for human kindness even in desperate times.
Despite the darkness and cruelty of the book, Wiesel’s survival against the odds is a symbol of hope. The war, his father’s death, and sparse resources could not stop a human from living a full life afterward. Elie received a Nobel Peace Prize for his descriptions of the Holocaust experience. The laureate raised awareness about the need for pacifistic movements and promoted altruism. He believed that indifference, not hatred, is the true opposite of love. People may not always have the necessary resources to help effectively. Yet, the intention and effort support the hope.
It would be logical to become angry at the world after surviving something as frightening as the war. On the contrary, the children who overcame those things often develop compassion. They try to convince the world that war is evil and people should avoid it at all costs. The focus of their message also reflects hope, as even in challenging conditions, they grew kind. There were other survivors as well, like Vladimir Mink in the story about returning to the Auschwitz location. He chose to visit the camps and relive the emotions of the past.
Another phenomenon that happens during hard times is the increase in family bonding and self-sacrifice. It is possible to find video stories featuring survivors of the oppression of Jews. The risks of being discovered were very high. In addition, the government would consider any people helping them criminals. The survivors lost their families and had dark memories surrounding their childhood. The horrors they experienced often chase them in nightmares decades later.
Such people often become philosophical about the concepts of life and death, as they have seen much of both. The survivors do not enjoy reliving the horrors of their early years. The necessity to educate new generations about past mistakes pushes them to speak openly. These people, like Elie Wiesel, represent the hope that even dark and evil times may raise kind humans. Their mission is to tell about the inhumane things that happened to them. They aim to make the listeners realize how destructive, unfair, and cruel the war is.
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