Night by Elie Wiesel

I had read this book as a sophomore in high school, and I remember liking it then. I wanted to read it again because I know of the heaviness of the topic, and I think it should be something every person in the world is reminded of on a regular basis. I'm glad I reread it.

At the time I originally read this book, I think I had become desensitized to the issue. The Holocaust was being beaten into my head by the curriculum of my humanities class, and because we talked about it so much, the effect of it was lost on me. I knew the Holocaust to be one of the absolute worst events in history, but I lost the connection I had and the brokenness I felt when facing this horrendous past. Reading it again now, four years later, is something I'm really glad I did.

The realities have hit me hard again. I really immersed myself in Elie's shoes, asking myself what I would do. How would I handle seeing truckloads of babies being thrown into a pit of fire? I honestly think that would have been enough to do me in. I would have gone completely mad with hysteria. I would have been shot just to be quieted. The thought of living with that image alone is enough to make me want to give up. But that wasn't all Elie saw.

He watched his mother and sister walk away, probably to the crematoria. He watched his father brutally beaten for no reason, children hanged, innocent men hanged, men shot, trampled, abused. Elie was whipped to the point of passing out for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Elie watched his father die.

I really started to see Elie's humanity. He was a good kid and a very loyal son. Being a good person, however, does not take away your innate human qualities. Elie lost faith in his God. As Elie mentioned, a person's faith can determine whether he lives or not. Once someone loses faith in something he held so dear his entire life, it's hard to find reason to continue. Elie also felt the selfishness of survival. There were moments he wanted to be rid of the burden of his father, not because Elie stopped loving his father, but because his survival was on the line and at that point, it's every man for himself.

Based on interviews I've seen between Elie and Oprah, I know of the pain Elie still harbors in his heart. He took a ten-year vow of silence to help process his grief, as did many others. Writing this book could not have been an easy feat, but he did it, and he did it eloquently. His story is one that should be passed to every student at some point in their schooling career and reread many times in their adult lives.

I would teach this book to sophomores in a Holocaust unit. I would pair this book with another book that talks about what happens in the Pacific theatre because I don't think that part of World War Two gets analyzed enough. I would have students compare and contrast the two theatres, including specifically the United States role within each.