Night Essay - Loss of Individuality

Elie Wiesel learns through his immense struggles that when survival is the ultimate goal for an individual, their individuality is consumed by not only greed and selfishness, but also the impacts of their unfortunate circumstances.

Elie’s individuality slowly starts to disappear on his first night at the camp, where he states, “Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my…soul and turned my dreams to ashes. Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God himself” (Wiesel 34). The impact of the sights that Wiesel saw on his first night have left such wounds on his heart that he automatically loses the personality as the strong, determined individual he once was. His soul has been ‘murdered’ and the dreams and hopes that he once had for the future, have all been shattered, leaving him little hope to put his life back to normal again.

Furthermore, Wiesel wakes up after his first night and already feels as though he has changed and that he is a different person. For Wiesel, as “the night…passed completely [and] the morning star shone in the sky… [He] too had become a different person…All that was left was a shape that resembled [him]. [His] soul had been invaded- and devoured- by a black flame” (Wiesel 37). The readers witness previously how Wiesel has had a change in mindset after his arrival to the camps, but the fact that Wiesel has lost his sense of being ‘himself’ in just one night is shocking. This transformation once again emphasizes that one’s unfortunate circumstances as a result of cruelty can cause one to fully lose themselves and their individuality.

In terms of the various elements of form in the memoir, examples of symbolism, parallelism, and metaphors all emphasize Wiesel’s loss of individuality. As Wiesel states, “Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity