Is Survival Selfishness in Night by Elie Wiesel

Selfishness in the Face of Adversity

In Elie Wiesel's book Night, he talks about his life as a Jewish teenager during the Holocaust. The idea of survival is like, super important throughout his story. But it makes you think: do you have to be selfish to survive? Let’s dig into some parts of the book where people act selfishly and see what that means for staying alive.

One big example is when Elie’s hometown, Sighet, kinda ignores all those scary rumors about the Holocaust. They didn’t listen to Moshe the Beadle, who got away from a Nazi camp. Everyone just wanted things to stay normal, so they pushed those thoughts away. This sort of 'looking out for yourself' didn't help in the end 'cause they were unprepared when the Nazis came knocking and shipped them off to camps.

Then there's Elie and his dad trying to make it through Auschwitz. It gets really intense. When Elie's dad dies, Elie admits he felt kinda relieved. It sounds harsh but given the conditions, it's understandable. Elie had to focus on himself to survive, even if it meant distancing himself from his dad's pain.

You also see other prisoners doing whatever it takes to survive. Like, there's this part where a son kills his own dad over bread! That level of selfishness shows how messed up things were in those camps where everyone was just fighting for their next breath.

The Moral Dilemma

So yeah, being selfish seems necessary when you're living through such horrible stuff. But here's the big question: Is it okay to save yourself if it means hurting others? Throughout the memoir, Elie Wiesel really wrestles with this idea while witnessing loads of cruelty and selfishness around him.

It’s crucial to remember that these acts aren’t about who these people are deep down; it's more about survival instincts kicking in during crazy times. Even Elie feels bad about what he sees and does sometimes, showing that internal battle between doing what you gotta do and feeling guilty later on.

The Broader Implications

Diving into how selfishness plays into surviving extreme situations helps us get a peek into human nature’s complexity when things get rough. Sure, from our comfy couches, it’s easy to judge these actions harshly. But you gotta realize their choices were shaped by a brutal reality we can barely imagine.

This memoir stands as a stark reminder of what happens when power goes unchecked and how far folks might go just to make sure they see another day.

Wrapping it up here—Elie Wiesel's Night often shows that surviving might mean acting selfishly sometimes. The book digs deep into the tough choices people had to make during the Holocaust when human life wasn’t valued at all. Those unsettling acts of selfishness highlight just how dire things were inside those concentration camps.

References:

• Wiesel, E. (2006). Night (M.A. & Marion Wiesel Trans.). Hill & Wang.
• Berenbaum, M., & Peck, A.J., eds. (1998). The Holocaust and History: The Known, the Unknown, the Disputed, and the Reexamined. Indiana University Press.
• Dawidowicz, L.S. (1975). The War Against the Jews: 1933–1945. Bantam Books.
• Bauer, Y. (2001). Rethinking the Holocaust. Yale University Press.
• Langer, L.L. (1991). Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory. Yale University Press.