Summary, Characters and Themes of Elie Wiesel's "Night&
Summary, Characters and Themes of Elie Wiesel's "Night"
A. Summary
Night tells the story of Jews who were deported to concentration camps during World War II. The Author, Eliezer Wiesel, is among the many young Jewish boys who are deported to Auschwitz, then to Buchenwald in Germany. Throughout the story, Wiesel remains with his father, where they must continuously fight, both emotionally and physically, along with other Jews in order remain alive. Elie witnesses hangings, beatings, starvation, and torture as he endeavors to understand how God could allow such atrocities to be perpetrated on the Jews. Prior to his deportation, Wiesel had been a devout Jew, unwavering in his beliefs and love of God. While at the camps, Wiesel’s faith, both in Judaism and then in God, is greatly shaken to the point of disenchantment and later a feeling of having been abandoned by God. Although his father parishes, Wiesel ultimately survives his harsh imprisonment and has managed to stay alive by the time camp is liberated by American and Russian troops.
B. Characters:
1-Eliezer Wiesel is the main character of the story. He is a young Jewish boy who finds the strength to the overcome the great odds of surviving the death camp with an indomitable will to live. Before his family is forced to move to the Ghetto and then to the concentration camps, he is very curious about God and eager to learn about his religion. The first page describes him well: “I was twelve. I believed profoundly. During the day I studied the Talmud, and at night I ran to the synagogue.” His faith in God may be viewed as almost naïve, as he is among those who optimistically do not believe that God would allow anything bad to happen to them.
2-The second character introduces Wiesel’s father. Page 2 describes him: “My father was a cultured, rather unsentimental man. There was never any display of emotion…” Wiesel derived much strength from his father; enough to go on after his father died in the camp and save himself. It is through their shared adversity that Wiesel’s father demonstrates his great love for his son.
3- A third important character is Moche the Beadle. On Page 4 we read: “Moche had changed. There was no longer any joy in his eyes. He no longer sang…” Moche was a very joyful man...