Layla Page

Elie Wiesel

By: Michaela Sullivan

Period: 5

4/5/08

            “Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turn into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.”(43) This is from the book Night, where the author/main character, Elie Wiesel, had to live during the holocaust. Elie Wiesel was a young Jewish boy, who had to go to a concentration camp. Just not any camp, but Auschwitz, the biggest and had the largest number of deaths. During his stay at Auschwitz he was brave, loyal, and very, very, VERY lucky to survive all that stuff that happened.

            Elie Wiesel is brave because he survived the Holocaust and didn’t go crazy after what happened. He father, mother, and sibling dyeing. “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night…” (43). This quote shows that he is brave and not going to give up. This is significant because he gets braver towards the end of the book. If I had to go to a concentration camp, I would be scared out of my mind.

Elie is also loyal to his dad. He also is kind of loyal to his religion. “I did not fast. Mainly to please my father, how had forbidden me to do so. But further, there was no longer any reason why I should fast. I no longer accepted God’s silence.” This is important to the book because he stayed loyal through out the entire book.

            Last, Elie was very lucky to survive the holocaust. Only 67,012 out of the estimated 4 million prisoners survived Auschwitz and Elie was one of them.  When he first arrived at the prison camp he and his father were asked their age by the SS officers.  Elie told them that he was 18, so the officer believed that he was 18 and not really 14. “No not fifty. Forty. Do you understand? Eighteen and Forty.”(39). The younger prisoners were told by the older prisoners to lie about their age so that would not be killed.  The younger prisoners along with the older prisoners were executed right away.  This was a great thing to learn because Elie survived and lived to tell his story.  He is still living to this day.

            Elie Wiesel is brave, loyal, and lucky person.  All three are important because they helped him survive the Holocaust and the aftermath.  Elie changed throughout the book.  He grew from a young boy to a man.