Night Speech

Try to imagine being an eyewitness to the atrocious acts of the Germans during the Holocaust. Could you watch the suffering? Could you even look those victims in the eyes knowing what they have to endure? Elie Wiesel's book Night is about what the holocaust did , not only to the Jews, but to humanity as well. People all over the world are so devastated by the Holocaust that to this day have not overcome the effects. One example of these acts occurs towards the end of the war, when Elie and the rest of the camp of Buna is forced to transfer to Gleiwitz. The transfer is a long and tiring journey. The weather is painfully cold, and snow fell heavily; the distance is greater than most people could ever dream of walking! The huge mass of people is forced to run, and if any collapse or are injured, they are shot or trampled with out pity. An image that still stays in Elie's memory is that of the Rabbi and his son leaving his father for dead. When the two are running together, the father begins to grow tired and as he falls farther and farther behind, his son runs on, ignoring him. This causes Elie to think of what he'd do if his father ever became as weak as the Rabbi did. In this novel, we also see the Jews losing their faith. Elie's faith in God is strong in the beginning, but grows weaker. We see this when Elie's father asked a gypsy where the lavatories are. Not only does the gypsy not respond, but he also delivers a blow to his father's head. Elie watches but doesn't even blink. He realizes that not even his faith in God could save him from the physical abuse if he tried to counterattack the gypsy. But if the attack had come just one day earlier, he would have probably struck back. However, the spiritual beating by the Germans was already being felt. The incident that probably has the greatest effect on Elie is the hanging of the pipel. A young boy with an innocent face condemned to death for being a part of a conspiracy. But unlike