The Importance of Night Essay Sample

I will never forget Elie’s account of losing his father mere hours before being liberated. He loses his humanity in that moment and his will to live. Elie has to live through his father's suffering, knowing in his mind that he cannot do anything to save him. Elie Wiesel’s Night should be read at the sophomore level due to its simple, yet explicit writing style as well as exhibiting persistence through love in the harshest situations.

Many students know about the Holocaust through statistics, however, the attention to detail of the atrocities that took place is often overlooked.  Night gives a first-person account of Wiesel’s personal experiences and his simple, yet deep writing style illustrates the perfect mental picture of each scene in the novel. Moishe the Beadle explains the horrible images he witnessed by describing, “infants were tossed in the air and used as targets for the machine guns” (Wiesel 6). Wiesel’s no-frills language does not go into detail about the gory scene that Moishe witnesses, instead he plainly states the horrific image, burning it into the minds of readers forever. Students who have learned about Holocaust or even World War ll knew of the mass murder of Jews that took place, however, the barbaric details are only shown in first-hand accounts like Night.  Wiesel plainly states of murder right in front of his eyes by stating, “When they withdrew there were two bodies next to me, father and son. I was sixteen” (102). A gruesome murder just occurred before his own two eyes, and he barely shows emotion in his writing. Parts of his novel must be reread to understand his purpose and intentions, such as his way of bluntly writing about grisly topics like death and murder. Moreover, his transition from the murder to talking about his age, shows how anybody now at 16 would be traumatized, but it barely phases him. He loses his ability to care while detaching himself from reality, leaving only his survival instincts to take over. Wiesel’s unique writing style of using short sentences to get straight to the point is remarkably effective, but he can put the worst human experiences into words that anyone can understand.  

Elie conveys his perseverance in his love for his father throughout all of their struggles, teaching perseverance throughout the novel. Due to the extremely rough and filthy conditions the Nazis put the Jews through, many lost the will to live. During Elie’s relative's visit, Stein, from Antwerp explains, “Were it not for them, I would give up” (45). Survival for his family is very much the only thing keeping him alive, and when he does realize his family has passed, he loses his very will to go on another day. Countless people succumbed to death and insanity in Auschwitz, but Elie and his father were able to use their love for each other to persevere, in turn, teaching the value of others and tolerance towards humanity as a whole. Near his liberation, Elie explains “I shall never forget the gratitude that shone in his eyes when he swallowed this beverage" (106). He loves his father, but deep down, there is a nagging voice telling him that his father is slowing him down and keeping him from some bits of security. Elie barely fends off the sensation, but the heartbreaking decision between his survival and his father’s illness leads him to eventually ignore his father’s final entreaty to share their burden of pain. His father’s death sparked a chain reaction toward a blank space in Elie’s life, where his mind only revolved around food and no longer about family. Both father and son have reason to give up and die, but the existence of their love for each other provides enough reason to persevere in the end.  

6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. Elie was not one of them. He was able to go through tremendous amounts of pain, persevering throughout anything the Nazis threw at him, through his love for his father. Elie’s straightforward memoir gives a crystal clear picture of the horrendous acts brought upon him and many others. The book is undoubtedly a must-read for sophomores and of significant importance, to those on the cusp of adulthood.