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A book called Night by Elie was written out of reflections of events that took place during the Holocaust when many Jewish men, women, and children were killed in what went down as the greatest atrocity in the history of the world. The book is a literary work that puts together creativity and documentary to give the reader, who probably was not present when the holocaust took place, a real picture of what happened. In the book Eliezer, the protagonist hides the author. The horrors and tribulations that Elie Wiesel went through left a mark on his mind and stayed with it for the remaining part of his life. The holocaust is the main theme in the book, but the author has successfully built minor themes like betrayal, greed, and so on around the main theme.
Eliezer was a teenage boy with a Jewish background. He stayed in Hungary, as per the details of the book. During the holocaust, the Nazis attacked the Jewish in Hungary tortured and butchered them ruthlessly. The rules of the journey to the concentration camp at Auschwitz where Jewish captives were to stay required that males be separated from females. This is how Eliezer’s family was separated with mother and daughters in separate camps from son and father. The journey and life in the camp exposed all of them to harsh physical and psychological conditions including hunger, weariness, and harassment.
All this suffering left Eliezer wondering if God exists and whether his mercifulness is true. He witnessed bodies of fellow prisoners hanged at the center of the camp. He also saw a young boy accused of collaborating with enemies being killed slowly. These events at the camp made Eliezer become disillusioned and lose meaning in life (Berenbaum 28).
Eliezer’s image reflected in the mirror had a broad meaning. It happened when the protagonist got up after a long time of sleep. He gathered his strength and went to a mirror that hung on the opposite wall. The protagonist says that he had never seen himself from the time of the ghetto. He was not surprised at what the mirror brought back as his image; however, he reports that he has never forgotten the image in the mirror.
During the ordeal, various aspects of the protagonist’s life had died. For example, the corpse gazing at him in the mirror symbolizes the death of humanness in the protagonist. The brutality he had witnessed and experienced had killed the “human being” in him. It also symbolizes the death of his belief in a supernatural and merciful God. All in all, the corpse gazing at the protagonist in the mirror symbolizes the death of the initial boyhood in him.
Humanity in him was replaced with brutality, bitterness, disappointment, the disappearance of fear of death, failure to believe in God, and so on. In short, the protagonist ended up as an animal without human feelings of love, respect for life, and human dignity (Berger 30).
This is a good literary work because the reader can get a true picture of human suffering that occurred during the period of the holocaust. It is rich with history and reveals to readers, who most likely were absent when the events took place, how much suffering the Jewish nation went through at the hands of the Nazis. Reading the whole book, the reader will most likely admire the character of Eliezer who despite the difficulties, took care of his father and did not kill him for bread or leave him like other boys were doing.
Works cited
Berenbaum, Michael. The Vision of the World: Theological Reflections on the Works of Elie Wiesel, Middletown, Conn: Wesley University Press. 1979. Print.
Berger, Alan. Crisis and Covenant: The Holocaust in American Jewish Fiction, Albany: State University of New York Press: 1985. Print.
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