Scarring Experience

Student:
Class: English 30-1
Teacher:
Due:

Experiences in life often aid greatly in the development of ones personality and
character. Different experiences will have different effects on the mind and spirit. It is the
negative impacts that leave the biggest marks. Someone who endured a significant hardship,
amongst others, was Elie Wiesel, author of the book Night. As a Jew living in the period of the
holocaust, Elies time on earth was seemingly coming to a quick end. The fate of millions of
Jews was that of the crematory. However, Elie managed to live through it, not only physically,
but miraculously, with his mind intact as well. His journey was long and tiresome, and with only
his father as company. The Jews were in for quite a surprise, and at first did not believe that
persecution in the 20th century was possible. As if being taken away from their homes was not
bad enough, the Jews families were torn apart as well. With only a father, mother, brother, or
sister left at their sides, many Jews lost even them as well, turning away from their own flesh and
blood to become focused only on their own survival.
Elie was in the same boat as the other Jews. In the small town of Sighet, Transylvania,
Elie and his family lived peacefully. This was until a man named Moshe the Beadle began his
prophecies, warning the people of Sighet about the Germans drawing near to take them all away.
No one would listen.
The Jews in Budapest are living in an atmosphere of fear and terror [] The Fascists
are attacking Jewish shops and synagogues. [] This news spread like wildfire through
Sighet. Soon it was on everyones lips. But not for long. Optimism soon revived. The
Germans wont get as far as this. (Page 7)
However, no matter how much their wishful thinking temporary lifted their spirits, there was no
stopping the impending doom of Elies people. Before long, Moshe the Beadle became weary
and silent. Eventually the ghettos came into their town, and the Jewish council tried to sooth the

people of Sighet. Over and over, the Jews heard bad news about the Germans, but over and over
they shrugged them off, unwilling to believe it possible.
Eventually there was no denying their fate. Taken away from their town in groups, the
Jews were brought away to their first concentration camp, Auschwitz. Elie and his father were
separated from Elies mother and sisters, never to see them again. The smell of burning flesh was
in the air.
My forehead was bathed in cold sweat. But I told him that I did not believe that they
could burn people in our age, that humanity would never tolerate it (Page 30).
Elie watched in horror as multiple children, babies, were thrown into a flaming crematory
without any mercy. Slowly, Elie grew numb. Upon meeting the other prisoners at the camp, he
did not even refer to them as men, but rather, strange creatures. He did not yet realize that he was
going to become just like them. After only one night in the camp, Elie was struck by how
different his father looked already, as well as the other men in the camp. He was also surprised
by his own behaviour. When Elies father was hit for asking to use a lavatory, Elie did not even
flinch.
Survival mode took over. Young men were attacking their own fathers just for a piece of
bread. Elie tried to keep from becoming one of those men, and did everything he could to keep
his father alive. Struggling to maintain any humanity left in him, Elie sometimes thought it may
be better to get rid of his burdensome father, and guilt began to gnaw at him for such selfish
ideas.
I went to look for him. But at the same moment this thought came into my mind:
Dont let me find him! If only I could get rid of this dead weight, so that I could use all

my strength to struggle for my own survival, and only worry about myself. Immediately
I felt ashamed of myself, ashamed forever. (Page 101)
Even though Elie could not bring himself to leave his father, illness brought his father to leave
Elie. Elies last living family member (assuming his mother and sisters did not live) was taken
away from him. All alone, Elie no longer trusted in God, no longer had a home, and no longer
had a family.
Perhaps he would have rather died than have lost everything. But, God had other plans
for Elies life. For example, writing the book Night to keep his story alive, and to keep future
generations from forgetting the past. Sadly, there is still war and death on this earth, but at least
Elie was not afraid to voice the horror of the holocaust. Once redeemed, Elie looked himself in
the mirror and said that from the depths of the mirror a corpse gazed back at [him]. The look in
his own eyes would haunt his scarred and broken self for the rest of his life (page 109). Such an
overwhelming experience is not ever forgotten, forged into ones very being. It is difficult to
even begin imagining anything as terrifying as what the Jews of the holocaust endured. Their
lives ended either in death, or had images of the death of their people engraved in their hearts
forever. Let man never overlook the hardships of the Jews, or any other strugglers in this world.