“Dehumanization is the process by which the Nazis gradually reduced the Jews to little more than “things” which were a nuisance to them.” For this reason, the conditions in the concentration camps were gradually taking away Eliezer’s every quality and attributes that made him human. For example, in the novel Night, Elie lost his sense of self during the Holocaust through his suffering and despair because his identity gets stripped away, he lost his connection and his faith in God, and he no longer cared about anyone but his own survival.
The first example of how Elie lost his sense of self during the Holocaust was when his identity was stripped away. Even from the beginning of the novel, the Jews were not allowed to keep any object that had …show more content…
Elie states, “The absent no longer entered our thoughts…” (Wiesel 36) After this he says that people only speak about the absent, but their fate didn’t cross his mind, because he was too busy thinking about his life. Not only him, but all of the Jews were incapable of thinking, their senses were numbered, they no longer clung to anything, their instincts of self-preservation, of self defense and pride was gone. They felt like wandering souls seeking redemption without any hope. Next, when his father was getting beaten, he says, “I did not move. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, before my very eyes, and I had not flicked an eyelid. Only yesterday, I would have dug my nails into this criminal’s flesh”. (Wiesel 39) This quote shows how Eliezer didn’t have the strength or the courage to stand up for his father because he wanted to survive in the concentration camps. Again, at the end, Eliezer was becoming selfish, and he says, “I went to look for him. Yet at the same time a thought crept into my mind: If only I didn’t find him! If only I was relieved of this responsibility, I could use all my strength to fight for my own survival, to take care only of myself…” (Wiesel 106) This quote shows how Eliezer is starting to think of the concentration camp as a place that is every man for himself, and not think of his father. Lastly, all of these thoughts made him no longer care about anyone else but himself and he abandoned his
The first example of how Elie lost his sense of self during the Holocaust was when his identity was stripped away. Even from the beginning of the novel, the Jews were not allowed to keep any object that had …show more content…
Elie states, “The absent no longer entered our thoughts…” (Wiesel 36) After this he says that people only speak about the absent, but their fate didn’t cross his mind, because he was too busy thinking about his life. Not only him, but all of the Jews were incapable of thinking, their senses were numbered, they no longer clung to anything, their instincts of self-preservation, of self defense and pride was gone. They felt like wandering souls seeking redemption without any hope. Next, when his father was getting beaten, he says, “I did not move. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, before my very eyes, and I had not flicked an eyelid. Only yesterday, I would have dug my nails into this criminal’s flesh”. (Wiesel 39) This quote shows how Eliezer didn’t have the strength or the courage to stand up for his father because he wanted to survive in the concentration camps. Again, at the end, Eliezer was becoming selfish, and he says, “I went to look for him. Yet at the same time a thought crept into my mind: If only I didn’t find him! If only I was relieved of this responsibility, I could use all my strength to fight for my own survival, to take care only of myself…” (Wiesel 106) This quote shows how Eliezer is starting to think of the concentration camp as a place that is every man for himself, and not think of his father. Lastly, all of these thoughts made him no longer care about anyone else but himself and he abandoned his