Justified Dishonesty In Night By Elie Wiesel

Justified Dishonesty in Night by Elie Wiesel I have read plenty of books throughout my time in school and seen even more movies. However, when I read the essay prompt for this assignment, Night by Elie Wiesel rapidly came to mind. This essay wanted the writer to focus on the dishonesty of a character or characters and the reasoning behind their dishonest behavior. I will focus on the dishonesty of a character or characters and the reasoning behind their dishonest behavior. Night which was written by Elie Wiesel, will discuss how a surrounding environment can justify dishonest behavior in order to protect, prevent, and survive in a harsh environment. Elie Wiesel’s eye witness experience proves that the personal desire to live prevails …show more content…
During this tumultuous and stressful experience at the concentration camp, Elie made a split second decision that his cousin 's mental stability was necessary in order to survive. This can be seen in our times, for example at a funeral there are some people who may comfort the grieving by saying “I know what you are going through”. In my interpretation it is to show mourning individual that they are not alone and they share their sorrow. However, some individuals who try and comfort the grieving individuals have never experience a personal lose. From reading Night, Elie dishonesty represented a solus effort to provide comfort in the time of uncertainty to his cousin.
Moreover, Elie witnesses a case of dishonesty performed by another character in this book in order to survive. To illustrate, after a severe attack by the squad leader, Elie recalls a French girl tending to wounds. Ironically, Elie encounters the same French girl after the war and learns that she is Jewish and managed to hide her identity during those years. Dishonesty was being used in this situation by the Jewish girl for survival. This dishonest behavior reinforces the fact that when pushed to extremes, a person may choose dishonesty over morality in order to …show more content…
Jewish prisoners during this time would lie about their age and health to prevent death. For example, the inmates alerted Elie and his father that in order to prevent death they must lie about their age. Elie was faced with the situation that insured if that dishonest behavior was not used him and his father could be sent to their deaths. The evident consequences of death during the selection process warranted Elie 's dishonest behavior to prevent any harm to himself or his father. This example reinforces the fact that people will break moral standards in order to prevent harm to their self or others making dishonesty a more preferred