Book review of Night by Elie Wiesel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Book review of Night by Elie Wiesel - Essay Example Elie later found out later that both his mother and sister were killed at the camp they were transported to. Elie and his father were sent to Auschwitz, a work camp, then from Auschwitz to Buna, and on to Buchenwald. While he and his father were in the concentration camp in Buchenwald, shortly before the war was over and the prisoners released. Elie’s father passed away from dysentery. There were many times when the young boy could think of no reason to survive the agony and pain of his life, yet his father’s memory and words kept him going. At a young age he was made to deal first with the death of his family, secondly with the death of his own childish innocence, and thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, he was made to deal with the temporary death of the God he had always known and believed deeply in. His father begged him many times not to lose the faith of his religion as it would keep him strong, yet in the midst of his pain the young Elie wondered how there could be a God that allowed so much suffering. He started to doubt his own faith, and wonder just where God was, and why he could not hear the cries of the masses of tortured people. Elie begins his story by describing the ghetto where he and his family, along with many others from their community were held captives. Even at this juncture, after having been dragged from their homes and herded like cattle into an area surrounded by barbed wire, somehow these Jewish people were still hopeful for their futures, still believed their lives would be normal again one day soon. Elie notes that â€Å"Most people thought that we would remain in the ghetto until the end of the war, until the arrival of the Red Army. Afterward, everything would be as before. The ghetto was ruled by neither German nor Jew; it was ruled by delusion.† (Wiesel 12). These delusions appeared to be all-consuming; perhaps the alternative of thinking what might be about to happen to themselves,