Heroism in Night by Elie Wiesel
... Elie met an acquaintance from Sighet. He realized that this person had abandoned Rabbi Eliahou, his father, in order to increase his own chances of survival. Elie vowed at that moment to never do what Rabbi Eliahou’s son had done. However, when Chlomo was ill with dysentery and was offered no chance for survival, Eliezer came very close to letting go of his father so that his own survival was better insured. When Elie went to go find Chlomo he expressed the following thoughts: But at the same moment this thought came into my mind:” Don’t let me find him! If only I could get rid of this dead weight, so that I could use all my strength to struggle for my own survival, and only worry about myself.” Immediately I felt ashamed of myself, ashamed forever. (101) Elie regretted his vow to not abandon his father and contemplated going directly against it. Deep inside, he knew that he wanted to save himself because his father’s death was inevitable. Wiesel knew that his efforts would not change the terrible effects of dysentery without treatment on his father and wanted to concentrate on helping himself. However, he proceeded, “ I gave him what was left of my soup. But it was with a heavy heart. I felt that I was giving it up to him against my will” (102). He still gave up his own food for his father’s survival, even though deep inside, he felt like he needed to abandon Chlomo to make his own survival the slightest bit easier. Therefore, although Elie wanted to give up on his father deep inside, he still conquered it however minimally by giving up his own food and doing what was right in principle. This illustrates strength in Elie for himself and for his father in a time when yielding a meal meant possibly death. Elie was an example of heroism because of the instances in his relationship with his father when he displayed strength. Equally important to understanding exactly why Elie was an example of heroism is the analysis of his relationship with God. Wiesel’s strong relationship with God was another way in which an example of heroism could be seen. Elie said to himself when he lost his faith in God: This day I had ceased to plead. I was no longer capable of lamentation. On the contrary, I felt very strong…I was alone – terribly alone in a world without God and without man… I had ceased to be anything but ashes, yet I felt myself to be stronger than the Almighty, to whom my life had been tied for so long. (65) Instead of all the other countless prisoners who lamented the doings of God and pondered over how God could let such terrible things happen to them, Elie saved himself the tortures of wondering by refusing to have faith in God. He did not waste precious effort on questioning God’s intention. Instead, he focused on his survival by denying the existence of God altogether. He denied to himself the presence of God in daily life and any other aspect of life as well. It must be remembered that Elie was deeply devoted to God and to studying the divine teachings prior to the concentration camps, and that to lose faith in God was extremely difficult. However, Elie realized that he needed to lose this faith and this realization was immense strength for himself, which is completely contributes to Elie being indicative of heroism. Equally important to the analysis of Elie’s relationship with God to Heroism was his perseverance. An integral part of Elie being an example of heroism was his perseverance in the process of survival in the concentration camps of the Holocaust. Undoubtedly, the Nazi’s faced Jews with the most horrible and difficult of conditions during World War II. Throughout Elie’s stay at many concentration camps, death became a daily reality, as he witnessed the deaths of prisoners both close to him and foreign to him. However, none of them were are horrific as that of a young boy, “For more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face.”(62). Elie did not dwell on the horror of the boy’s death as many others had, he did not let death hamper at his own chance of survival. Perseverance in this case was to withstand the effects of death, however terrible and widespread, and to not let the effects of it hamper chances for survival. Furthermore, Elie persevered when he fought the effects of exhaustion. After Elie completed the march to Bunchenwald with the company of his father, he spoke of the need to sleep, “Gods knows what I would not have given for a few moments of sleep.” (85). He could no longer move and desperately sought sleep in the cold snow. However, Elie turned this around: But deep down, I felt that to sleep would mean to die. And something within me revolted against this death. All around me, death was moving in, silently, without violence. (85) He knew that sleep meant death and leaving his dear father, and he refused to fall asleep even when it was very close to be inevitable because of exhaustion. The fight against exhaustion was one of many instances where Wiesel displayed perseverance and strength for himself, which was the definition of heroism tailored to fit his concentration camp experience. However, Elie’s contribution’s to society after his experience of the Holocaust through helping others is the most important way in which Wiesel is directly indicative of heroic qualities. Elie Wiesel has contributed to society in a profound way that has touched so many and is clearly indicative of an example of heroism along with his relationships with those around him and perseverance in order to survive. The publication of his personal memoirs of the Holocaust during World War II such as Night and Dawn make us keep in mind the tragedies of the Holocaust and the past so as to not let this happen again. To put his exper...