I did not live during the Holocaust or even have a sense of what went on during the period Night by Elie Wiesel was written. This story is about the survival of Elie himself and his father. Imagine a world completely different from today, not knowing what tomorrow will bring or when you will get a nibble of bread and a little bit of soup.

As I read, I felt the author was playing with my emotions. I did not have to put the book down or close my eyes to picture the events; they kept playing out in my mind like I was watching a movie. For a few pages you may be angry or feel the pain of living in a concentration camp, maybe this is the reason why the book won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.

The struggle of not one person, but two plays out in this story. Elie and his father keep from being split up. All they have is each other, no possessions, not even a pair of shoes. Imagine how your life would be without the possessions you call necessities.

This story of Night also shows how stress can change people’s minds: to go from caring to not caring and not even realize it. Wiesel mentioned a time where he could not find his father. “Don’t let me find him! If I could only get rid of this dead weight, so that I could use all of my strength to struggle for my own survival, and only worry about myself.” Suddenly the thing most important to you goes to the back of your mind, even if it was your own father, as in Wiesel’s case. Wiesel also started to doubt God. As the book went on he did not believe in God because of what was happening to everyone around him.

Wiesel kept me reading and imagining what I would have done in his situation especially having your life in the hands of other people, I kept wondering what I would do. You eat when they say, you work when they say, and you sleep when they say. To see things you never thought a person could do to another will be enough to keep you wondering how this book ends.

The thought of seeing everyone around you a breath away from death gave me a chill. Wiesel mentioned not seeing himself in the mirror for quite sometime. When he was finally able to see himself he saw an image he will never forget. “From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me.” I could keep telling you more, but I want you to read the book and feel the emotions the story gave me.