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Bo Mcwaters
Ms. Crowell
Advanced Composition
30 April 2017
Elie Wiesels Night contains graphic material about the Holocaust; It is not pointless
violence though. Students in history class may learn about the holocaust, but they can never fully
understand the hardships Jewish people faced. Wiesels memoir shows people today what it was
like to live as a Jew in central Europe during the Holocaust. Night should not only be allowed in
schools, it should be required. Although many parents believe Night is too graphic for young
adults, allowing them to read it will increase the number of people exposed to the material,
which in turn will educate the readers on Jewish peoples hardship during the Holocaust.
Some parents and teachers find Night inappropriate. They say it is too violent for
students to read. Many of them think The Diary of Anne Frank is enough to depict the horrors of
the holocaust, even though the setting of the book is in an attic and not a concentration camp.
They believe Night is too real, even though it never promotes violence. If anything, the book
Nights violence is intentional. Elie described Nazis burning babies, Jews who were beat
repeatedly, and the hanging of men. Elie Wiesel wanted to make the story as detailed as he could
in hope that no one would ever feel like him and the rest of the Jews again. He stated clearly in
his Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, Who would allow such crimes to be committed?
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How could the world remain so silent? (118). Elie blamed much of the Holocaust on the people
of the world, as well as the Nazis. No one cared much about the Jews, because the world did not
worry about what was occurring in Europe, they cared more about their own country. Exposing
the world to his book, will make people worry about world issues more and not just their own.
Night can teach everyone to be more caring and selfless about current world events.
What Wiesel wrote was a memoir, not fiction. A parent cannot hide the real world from
his or her children forever. Night is a violent, depressing book, but reality is full of pain, sadness,
and suffering. We should prepare children for that kind of hardship that will come to them
eventually. The first time Elie saw himself after years in the camps was shocked, From the
depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has
never left me. (115). He chose these words as the last lines in the story of the most traumatic
event in his life. The quote told his audience how much the holocaust has affected his life. Life is
Night tells a story of a group of people who only knew of oppression. Putting students in
the shoes of a Jewish boy during the holocaust can really impact someones personality. Many
would appreciate the life they have more, and might even think twice about discriminating or
stereotyping others just because they are different. Three days after the Nazis came to Sighet, the
Jews were forced to wear yellow stars, Elies father wondered The yellow star? So what? Its
not lethal. (11). His father was completely oblivious to this, but Elie know what was going on.
The star might not have been lethal, but the discrimination was. Eventually, this yellow star
became lethal. The Holocaust began mostly because of stereotypes. Hitler stereotyped to Jews as
job-stealers and disgusting people in his Nazi propaganda. Citizens began hating people based
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upon their religion. Discussing and pondering this book will make many people realize how
The Holocaust was an actual event in history, and it needs discussion with every teenager
in the world. Having an emotional memoir such as Night in school will show them how hard it
was for Jews during the Holocaust, which will prepare them for most of their life. It increases the
chance for a student to mature in many different ways and have a more mature attitude towards
Editions de Minuit.