Essay Sample on Dehumanization in the Book Night

This paper identifies three examples of dehumanization presented by the author, Elie Wiesel in the book Night. 

One form of dehumanization in the book Night was when the Nazis made Jews go into different lines based on their gender. “Every few yards, there stood an SS man, his machine guns trained on us. Hand in hand we followed the throng. Men to the left. Women to the right” later Elie states “yet that was the moment I left my mother.” (Page 29)This is one of the first times that the Jews were dehumanized. They are taken away from their families. Children were killed, and mothers were taken from their children. Men and women were separated, and if you were too young, old, or not in good health, then you would be killed.  Elie talks about the horrid conditions and treatment, and he talks about his feelings and how it impacted his life at camp.

Another way that the Jews were dehumanized is when they were put into ghettos. Elie states that  “We were no longer to frequent the restaurants or cafes, to travel by rail, to attend synagogue, to be on the streets after six o’clock in the earning. Then came the ghettos.” (Page 11) It also says that “two ghettos were created in sighet” (page 11) a ghetto is an enclosed space that is only occupied by a minority, or small group of people. The Jews were forced into these ghettos and had all of these rules that they had to abide by. This is an example of dehumanization because it forces the Jews into terrible living conditions, and forces them to work against their will. 

Finally, a way the Jews were dehumanized is when they were hung, or watched people get hung. On page 64 and 65 Elie says that “One day as we returned from work, we saw three gallows, three black ravens, erected on the appelplatz. Roll call. The SS surrounding us, machine guns aimed at us: the usual ritual. Three prisoners in chains-and, among them, the little pippel, the sad eyed angel. The SS seemed more preoccupied, more worried, than usual. To hand a child in front of thousands of onlookers was not a small matter. The head of the camp read the verdict. All eyes were on the child. He was pale, almost calm, but he was biting his lips as he stood in the shadow of the gallows.” The Nazis do this to show control or power against the Jews. They wanted to instill further fear in the Jews, that would make them cooperate more. They also may have done this because they were mad that the boy was trying to escape. They didn’t want anyone to leave, so they hung the child to show that. They planned to hang the child because he stole weapons and was trying to escape. After they hung him, he stayed alive for a while, and the people forced to watch him and the others hung had already left. Later on that day, everyone went to dinner, in shock at what they had seen, Elie says “that night. The soup tasted of corpses."