The Loss of Innocence

The Holocaust was a horrible time where many people died not only physically, but also mentally too. Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the holocaust, wrote the book “Night” to describe the experiences that he had during the holocaust. Throughout the book, many conflicts were revealed over and over. Elie's conflict kept building up eventually leading to the total destruction of his belief in god and inner moral as a human being.

In the beginning of the book, Elie seems to have a strong faith in God. As the story progresses, this strong belief begins to die out. The turning point was when he witnesses the execution of a small child in the concentration camp. He watches the kid suffer, and this causes him to resolve the conflict within himself about if he should continue to believe in god or not: “Behind me I heard the same man asking: 'where is god now?' And I heard a voice within me answer him: 'where is he? There he is- He is hanging here this gallows.” (Page 62) This shows that he no longer have any faith in god because if there was a god, this event wouldn't happen. This event is a great contribution to his resolution for this conflict.

Another event that contributes a settlement in one of Elie's inner conflict was the time when his dad died. He mentions in his memoir that he would never abandon his father like the other sons did to their fathers. As the story progresses, this thought of mind begins to become distorted. The experiences that he had in the camp destroy his inner moral of what is right and wrong: “And in the depths of my being, in the recesses of my weakened conscience, could I have searched it, I might perhaps have something like free at last.” (Page 106) His inner conflict of arguing himself about if he should continue to embrace his dad or not comes to an end. In reality, he still took care of his dad to the very end, but a inner demon lies within himself making him feel satisfy when his dad finally dies because he doesn't need to take care of his dad anymore.

At the end of the book, Elie's was hospitalized for weeks after getting out of the concentration camp. The whole mess was finally over, and interesting enough, the first thing that he does is look at a mirror: “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.” (Page 109) This last moment of the book made me realize the impact had on the people from the concentration camp is a big one. It made me realize that even the survivors of the holocaust are good as dead. Even though their body is still alive, their inner being as a person is no longer living. This was the same for Elie Weisel; his inner being, soul, humanity, all of these things has been stripped away from his living body.

In conclusion, the experiences that Elie shares in this memoir has a important meaning in life. It shows that the holocaust was filled with many horrible conflicts. Elie experiences all of these conflicts head on, and the outcomes that he get from these experiences were not good ones. He loses his faith in god, loses his sense of morals, and he loses all of these things within the inner nightmare of the camp. This goes to show that it is important for us to not let this kind of thing happen ever again.