The Evil Inside

School Assignment: Discuss the message of the novel Night by Elie Wiesel

We would like to think that people are not evil. That our neighbors, although they follow a different faith or are a different nationality, will not kill us in order to "purify" the nation. But what we want is not the same as what really is. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, the human potential for evil is shown through lack of necessities in the concentration camps, dehumanization, and extreme violence.

Elie Wiesel shows the human potential for evil through his description of the lack of necessities in the concentration camps. Upon entering the camps, the Jew were deprived of basic necessities such as warm, well-fitting clothing and decent meals. For example, when recalling the typical meals of the day, Wiesel states "In the mornings: black coffee. At midday: soup... At six o'clock in the afternoon: roll call. Followed by bread with something." (pg. 43) When comparing this to the food pyramids we see in our doctor's offices and schools, you can see that properly balanced diets were not available in the camps, causing malnutrition and starvation. Depriving the Jews of basic necessities is just one example of the human potential for evil.

Another example of the human potential for evil is the dehumanization that was evident in the concentration camps. The officers of the camps stripped the Jews of their possessions and names, thus strippng them of who they were and their identities. Throughout the novel, Wiesel talks about the progressive dehumanization, beginning with the restriction of rights (pg. 10) and going as far as taking away their names (pg. 42). In doing this, the Nazis were able to slowly take away all things that gave the Jews identities, dehumanizing them in such a way that they were no longer people but work objects. With dehumanization, the Nazis showed the potential for evil that humans have.

To further show the human potential for evil, Elie Wiesel discusses the violence experienced in the concentration camps. The officers in the camps would often beat the prisoners for not working, talking when they shouldn't be, acts of rebellion, or even for no reason at all. One example of such violence is when Wiesel describes the hanging of a child. "The SS seemed more preoccupied, more worried, than usual. To hang a child in front of thousands of onlookers was not a small matter." (pg. 64) This child was found guilty of being involved in an act of rebellion, and although the child was guilty, it is a part of human nature to protect children- not kill them. Through these acts of violence, the human potential for evil is shown.

In conclusion, Elie Wiesel shows the human potential for evil in his novel Night in multiple ways. He tells his story to show just how evil people can be and how their evil actions affect others.