Summary:
In the book "Night", by Elie Wiesel, there are many examples of hope through out the book. Hope can be anywhere, even at the waiting of death. Or when everything seems lost and useless.
HUMAN NATURE
Human nature is what defines human, something that comes with out thinking, with out calling, and with out a thought. Human nature, or as some people might call it: an instinct. Part of human nature is to believe in something, especially when the situation is harsh and very difficult. Usually when in danger, a person tends to believe in something like in survival or finding something that can keep that person going. Believing is to hope. It can make a person strong, strong enough for another moment to come, and the next. In the book "Night", there are many examples of hope through out the book. Hope can be anywhere, even at the waiting of death. Or when everything seems lost and useless.
A good example of hope that also includes faith is Akiba Drumer. He is a very religious person, and sings of faith and of God to keep hope alive for the other prisoners. He believes God is only testing them, and that if they refuse to give up everything will be over soon. But then the selection comes and Akiba's name is written down, sensing that his death is near, makes Elie and others promise to remember him when he is taken away by praying the Kaddish. His situation is hopeless, but he did not lose his hopes and his faith. Even at the end. Like the selection, life sometimes can choose the most vulnerable. Life seems to seek out weakness, but the important thing is to keep hope and not to fall into despair, like Akiba, he knew his life was going to end in the most painful way, but asked for a prayer, hope, that is what he asked for.
Hope and faith are very unstable, something very easy to strip out of a person if the circumstances are very harsh, shocking or very difficult to deal with. For example, when the sad-eyed angel was hanged. That child represented innocence, hopes and goodness of heart. That child was kind, helpful and guilty of no crime but of being the victim of his enemy's eyes. When the boy was hanged, their hopes and faith were lost. Their God was hanged, and died very slowly. The crimeless child was hanged next to their God, and next to their faith. Sometimes angels are who suffer the most. Their purity can make them vulnerable, just like a child.
Sometimes hope can lead to a person's own survival. Elie's loss of innocence was drastic, having to abandon everything just to end up at a camp of death and destruction. He lost his faith and his innocence, but he did not lose his hopes for survival, to one day be a free man again, not an animal in a horrific cage. He tried to stay with his father until the end, but circumstances beyond his reach led to their separation. He kept strong-minded, and survived. Like that restless night, full of death, when all the prisoners had to run for miles and miles with out food or a real rest. It was a task impossible to complete for some. A task that brought death and madness to many. This can represent the whole holocaust, where one night can feel like a year, and death can come at any moment. Where if you give up, it can come even faster.
Hope is strength, strength to keep going until the end. Hope can lead to survival, or at least to a better management of an oppressive situation. In the book "Night" there are many themes, but hope is one of the most important ones. With out hope everything can seem lost, without something to wait for, to hope for. Hope is a wonderful thing, so easy to lose, but if kept, it gives life meaning.
This is the complete article, containing 632 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
