Night: Week of 3-23-15

Title: Night
Author: Elie Wiesel
Pages Read:0-43
Prompt: How do the characters change throughout the events in the book?

I am really enjoying Night because it is my first read that gives a detailed description of real events that occurred to a person just a few years older than me. The events and dialogue in the book shake me up that they actually witnessed this and that these things were actually said. At first you see the religious affect and the affect hope has on the community in which Wiesel lives in. You can tell that religion plays a large affect because they prey and are tied together because of their religion. Especially since Wiesel talks about it so much at the beginning of the book. When there begins to be suspicion of Germany coming the entire community doubts against it because they don't want to believe that their lives could possibly be in danger. This hope and doubt may have driven them all to be put into captivity and most likely death for most of them. So Wiesel has this same mindset as the community. Then all of a sudden the Germans show up and at first Wiesel believes the rumor that it will all be over soon.

Once they realize they are being deported the mood takes a sudden swing. All of a sudden you see panic begin to creep in, yet they always stay hopeful. There is a cycle where they are a bit frightened then they settle down, like they did when they are sent to the smaller ghetto near them. Yet once they settle they are being deported, except this time they wouldn't settle down and establish the same hope anymore. You see once they are taking the train to Birkenau it no longer is much of a community, but instead every man for themselves. You see the mindset of everyone change to thinking of themselves and not worrying about much of anyone else, except their family. Then you really see how Wiesel changes mentally once you arrive at the first camp, Birkenau. The largest event that changes Wiesel is seeing the furnaces and all the people that have been killed. He is extremely shaken and begins to have this "me" type of mindset and he grows farther from his father and forgets a bit about his mother and sister. The first event where you see his change is when his father is hit to the ground by an officer at the camp. He does absolutely nothing about it and thinks to himself why he had not reacted and that just a few days ago he would have attacked that officer, wondering how much his recent experiences had changed him. I believe it shows how far and how much fear can influence and change a person. The fear of dying and fear of what he had seen had driven him to change his morals in the time span of just a day or few.

To me one of the largest changes is the way Wiesel looks at religion and god. At first he asks questions but preys and believes everything he is told. Yet after these events he responds the same way I believe I would. I would have also questioned that god has completely good and all love because after such inhumane and terrible scenes, how could god have approved or allowed this to happen. In fact Wiesel does not prey and he begins to grow angry in a way. For me I am very interested in seeing what other characters that Wiesel will come into contact with. I have a feeling that Wiesel and his father are bound to be separated soon and that everything will change at that moment. I really want to keep reading because I think from here things will only get worse and more crazy so I want to see how Wiesel handles the adversity that is coming and how he manages to survive everything he is about to experience.