Introduction
“Night” is the first book in a trilogy written in 1960 by the prominent author Elie Wiesel, awarded the Nobel Prize in 1986. This work is based on Wiesel’s Holocaust experience, which he and his father, who died from the beating, got during the Second World War in 1944-1945. Wiesel was liberated at the end of the war and wrote the manuscript for more than 800 pages concerning his terrifying experience. His trilogy “Night,” “Dawn,” and “Day” show the author’s transition from darkness to the light, describing Holocaust events. According to the Jewish tradition to start the day at midnight, “Night” is the opening book of this series. In “Night,” Wiesel claims that God is dead, and everything goes to its end sometimes: humanity, history, and day. Thus, humanity in Wiesel’s work is portrayed as naturally evil.
It is Indifference that is Opposite to Good
During 1933-1945 because of antisemitic views, Adolf Hitler, in whose leadership many German soldiers naively believed, murdered approximately one-third of all the Jews worldwide. Being in the center of Holocaust events, Wiesel was sure that evil lies in human nature, and people are “the masters of nature” (Wiesel 87); however, indifference towards horrific actions is genuine opposition to what is good and right. The author claims that his mission as a writer was “to prevent the enemy from enjoying one last victory by allowing his crimes to be erased from human memory” (Wiesel, foreword). That is why he became a political activist and helped in establishing the United States Holocaust Museum. Moreover, he actively participated in the New York Human Rights Foundation. Therefore, he made everything to avoid indifference towards the Jew’s history, violated human rights, and humiliated people.
Evil Human Nature
According to Wiesel, Hitler’s soldiers were blindly believing him and following his orders. The last words of one follower were: “I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people” (Wiesel 81). Thus, it is seen that they were not listening to what morality or humanity was saying; they just believed Hitler. According to the source, human nature is evil: “there were two dead bodies next to me, the father and the son. I was sixteen.” (Wiesel 102). If God was alive, if humanity was alive, and if human nature was good, why this innocent teenager had to witness all the murderers? Being a minority group, Jews were usually portrayed as devil’s agents responsible for catastrophes, crimes, and droughts. Wiesel decided not to let the discrimination, humiliation of the Holocaust happen again, either towards Jews or other minority groups.
Conclusion
Experiencing his father’s death, witnessing numerous murderers as a 16-years-old teenager, Elie Wiesel decided to become a writer and prevent the repetition of history. The first book “Night” of his trilogy, demonstrates the evil nature of humanity, who decided to follow Hitler in murdering one-third of all the Jews, which always were scapegoats, being blamed for catastrophes and draughts. According to his mission, in the book, the author claims that indifference is the opposite of good. Indifference includes forgetting the history, making no effort to prevent repetition, not listening to morality, and blindly following someone’s directions. Thus, Wiesel writes that people are masters of their evil nature, living in a world of dead God.
Work Cited
Wiesel E. Night. Translated by Marion Wiesel. Hill and Wang. 1960. Web.