Loss Of Control In Night By Elie Wiesel

In Night by Elie Wiesel, a young Jewish boy grows up in concentration camps located throughout Germany. As he is being transported from one camp to another, Elie sees men fight each other for a mere crust of bread. Wiesel illustrates to the reader that people completely change themselves, becoming more barbaric and lose hope when they lose control over their situation.
The men change from civilized to animal-like after their hope and sense of control is diminished. Wiesel writes, “Beasts of prey unleashed, animal hate in their eyes. An extraordinary vitality possessed them, sharpening their teeth and nails” (101). Wiesel describes these men with animalistic words throughout this passage demonstrates how the loss of control has deteriorated their humanity. As the prisoners lose control over what is happening in their life, they will do anything to ensure any sense of security, including losing parts of themselves. In another example, Wiesel illustrates, “They had never undoubtedly never seen a train with this kind of cargo” (101). The prisoners are described as “cargo” rather than people to show that the Nazi’s have dehumanized them by making them suffer and starve. The people on the …show more content…
Wiesel describes, “His eyes lit up, a smile, like a grimace, illuminated his ashen face. And was immediately extinguished. A shadow had lain down beside him. And this shadow threw itself over him” (101). Bread symbolizes hope and fire symbolizes loss of hope, so when the bread is taken away from him he loses his last sliver of hope. His eyes lit up with hope as he got bread and when his bread is taken from him he loses that hope. The use of the word associated with fire, “extinguished”, shows that his hope is burned away when he loses bread. His control over his situation was the bread that he had, it gave him the hope to live another day. When the bread is taken away from him, he changes; his smile is burned