Classics 101: Night

Here is another classic 101. And I think I know what I want to do with this little series. I want to create a base knowledge of plot, themes, and characters so that studying or even just reading a classic can be a little easier.

As a bit of a warning and disclaimer, I am not an English expert. I am just someone who loves books, and loves to read, and has found different things in different books and wishes to share them with you. The warning is this post will be about Night by Elie Weisel a memoir about a Holocaust survivor. If that makes you uncomfortable or triggers you in any way, then I invite you to skip this post.

So this book is more of a work of non-fiction, but there is still a lot of mass symbolism especially to do with Jewish faith. Now, I am by far from an expert on Jewish symbols, or the Torah, so I'm not going to mention much about it.

One of the symbols that is talked about frequently is God. Especially pertaining to Weisel's feelings about life and death, and his place in the world. One of the lines that really stuck out with me was "But now, I no longer pleaded for anything. I was no longer able to lament. On the contrary, I felt very strong. I was the accuser, God the accused... I was nothing but ashes now, but I felt myself to be stronger than this Almighty to whom my life had been bound for so long. In the midst of these men assembled for prayer, I felt like an observer, a stranger"

Throughout the book, we read quite a bit about the struggle Weisel has with his belief in God, and his belief in the goodness of people. And I think this is something very important to take into account. Because life in the camps was not just a physical battle against hunger, and fatigue. But a battle against one's beliefs and one's faith. And with all that we know about the holocaust, that concept something that we cannot easily grasp. And I feel like this book does a wonderful job at tackling that particular battle.

This book is a very simple read in terms of language, but the topic is very difficult to stomach. There are scenes in the book that just tug so much at my heart and make me cry. Particularly when we get closer to the end of the book and Weisel's father dies. Weisel's writing is beautiful to read, but at the same time it doesn't beat around the bush with slightly disturbing content.

The last line in the book is also something very moving, "from the depths of the mirror, as corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me." This book is incredibly good at describing the horrors of the camps, but doing so tastefully. With a topic like this, it's very easy to go overboard, and I feel like that's even more difficult when you have been there. But Elie Weisel does a good job of describing the conditions well enough so that a reader feels something, but not enough to turn a reader off.

This is a book that is supposed to disturb a reader. It's not meant to have happy endings. So this book is a challenge to read emotionally. There is also language that some may not understand, either because it's in German, or it's Hebrew. And if you guys really want me to, I can create a pdf glossary of sorts. I think knowing the words ahead of time might be quite useful in understand what is going on, and what things are.

I remember reading this book in Grade 10 history class an not being able to finish it because mentally I couldn't handle it. I do caution you about that. But this book is something especially now that we should take the time to read, and reflect on.

I hope this helped you understand a little bit about Night by Elie Weisel.