Dehumanization in Night by Elie Wiesel Essay Example

Night, the memoir by Elie Wiesel conveys Elie’s life during the Holocaust. Between the ages of thirteen and sixteen, Elie Wiesel saw and experienced the horrors of what the Holocaust had been doing for years to his fellow Jews first hand. The Holocaust, which was during WWⅡ, was when Hitler’s plan to get rid of the Jews got anitiated. During this time, there were around six million Jews killed.  In the memoir Night, not treating the Jews like humans,  violence, and starvation were used by the Germans to dehumanize the Jews, causing the Jews to begin to act less like humans at times and more like animals. 

When people are not treated as human beings, it makes it difficult for them to continue to act like human beings.  When the Jews were first transported by cattle cars to the first camp, there were, “...eighty persons in each one,”(Wiesel 22).  Since there was not enough space for all of them, they began to be easily agitated by each other. For example when one of them was being loud the others eventually began to keep her quiet by hitting her, instead of just talking to her.  Once they arrived at the camps, they were told that their, “...clothes were to be thrown on the floor at the back of the barrack…”(Wiesel 35).  This made them less human because it took away their individuality. It also dehumanized them because it forced them to be naked until the people in charge at the camp gave them something to cover themselves with.  After their clothes had been taken, the people working at the camp,“...tore out our hair, shaved every hair on our bodies,”(Wiesel 35). This further reduced their individuality. It as well lowered their morale, because they were being treated not like humans, but more like animals.  All and all, the more that the Jews were not treated like humans, the harder it would be for them to truly act like humans.

Another way that the Jews were dehumanized was through violence.  When Elie’s father asked to use the bathroom during their first day at the camps, a fellow prisoner,“...slapped my father with such force that he fell down…”(Wiesel 39) and after he was hit, his father, “...crawled back to his place on all fours,”(Wiesel 39).  This was an example of how they dehumanize the Jews by hitting them like animals.  At Buna, Elie was threatened by Franak to go see a dentist so that he could get his golden tooth or he would, “‘break your teeth by smashing your face,’”(Wiesel 56).  Franak dehumanized Elie by threatening him if he didn’t give him his gold tooth. Later when the Jews were evacuated as the Allies were getting closer, if they slowed down as they ran to their destination, “... a quick shot eliminated the filthy dog,”(Wiesel 85).  The Jews were being treated like dogs or sheep being herded, except when they slowed down, they were shot.  In conclusion, violence was another way that the Jews were dehumanized.

Starvation was the third way that the Jews were dehumanized.  When there was a bomb raid at the camp, one of the Jews was,“committing suicide for a ration or two or more of s o u p,”(Wiesel 59).  To this person, the idea of getting some more food was more important than life.  Instead of being upset because the SS officers were about to hang someone, Juliek whispered, “‘This ceremony, will it be over soon? I'm hungry…’”(Wiesel 62).  For most people placed in this position, they would be unhappy, but Juliek was more focused on getting food.  During the cattle car trip to the last camp, the father of a prisoner was shocked because his, “‘...little Meir! Don't you recognize m e … Y o u ' r e killing your father… I have bread…for you too … for you too…’"(Wiesel 101).  The son had decided that having some food was more important than his father’s life.  Therefore, starvation was a third way used to dehumanize the Jews.

The use of not treating the Jews like humans, violence, and starvation were all ways that were used to dehumanize the Jews.  Several times throughout the holocaust the Jews were treated like less than human.After being constantly trested as less than human, they would sometimes act less than human, including Elie.  Even if Elie didn’t become as dehumanized as some of the others, he did become somewhat dehumanized. Such as his lack of emotion at the end of the book.