Night by Elie Wiesel | Teen Ink

Night by Elie Wiesel MAG

December 16, 2010
By CelesteK. BRONZE, Unalaska, Alaska
CelesteK. BRONZE, Unalaska, Alaska
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

The Holocaust is and forever will be haunting, reminding us of those who suffered. Night by Elie Wiesel is a true and powerful story about the author's experiences in a concentration camp. This book is brilliant because it has so much to teach readers about a reality that was swept under the rug so many years ago, giving you a jolt of fright and grief and a ­bitter taste of inhumanity.

This book pulls you in, urging you to turn the page while also making you want to turn away from it. It is both terrifying and intriguing when you start thinking about how the Nazis could ever have thought that what they did was justified or okay.

This one scene from the book demonstrates just that: “The snow began to form a thick layer over our blankets. They brought us bread – the usual ration. We threw ourselves upon it. Someone had the idea of appeasing his thirst by eating the snow. Soon the others were imitating him. As we were not allowed to bend down, everyone took out his spoon and ate the accumulated snow off his neighbor's back. A mouthful of bread and a spoonful of snow. The SS who were watching laughed at this spectacle.” This scene creates an image in your mind of starvation and the horrible living conditions, which is exactly what the Jews experienced.

This book is not only a great read, but also really important today. I think it should be required reading for everyone in the world. Most know that what took place inside those concentration camps changed lives forever, but somehow, the Nazis believed that what they did was all right. If it happened once, it could happen again – that's what makes this book so important.

Reading Night, you'll find a lot to think about and nothing to say. This example demonstrates that feeling: “I wanted to see myself in the mirror hanging on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me.” These lines are so powerful that they leave you speechless.

This book draws you in and repels you, while teaching and warning you. Night was made to be read, so read it, because it's up to you make sure that the past doesn't repeat itself.


The author's comments:
I was inspired to write this piece because I believe that the Holocaust is something that people should know about, and I hope that by reading this piece, people will be inspired to read the book. I think it's critically important that people become eduacated about what took place in those concentration camps. No matter how ugly and inhumane it was, at least you become familiar with it, so that it can never happen again.

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on Jun. 4 2011 at 7:02 pm
Love-to-write-Lee SILVER, Albuquerque, New Mexico
5 articles 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Within the pages of this book you may discover, if you look beyond the spell of written words, a hidden land of beasts and birds..."

Hi, we read Night in my english class this past year, and I find that I completely agree with what you wrote about it. The last quote you put in, that was at the end of the book, was truly powerful. It put's how great a story it is in perspective when a teacher spends days after days talking about little bits of it, like this. Keep up telling people about what is called the Holocaust.