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Night, a la Shmoop. There have been many powerful books written

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about the Holocaust.

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They remind us of a tragic time in human history...

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...and cause us to reflect on our own fears and insecurities.

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More than anything though, they remind us that, not only can our bodies be tortured...

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...but our souls as well.

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Long-standing beliefs can be rocked to the core...

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...and our faith in humanity can be severely tested.

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Consider the relationship you have with your father.

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You two may have your highs and your lows...

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...but imagine having to go through something like what Eliezer and his father experienced

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in Elie Wiesel's Night.

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Could you choose between helping your ailing father and acting to ensure your own survival?

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We can read about what happened to the victims and survivors of the concentration camps.

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We can get a general idea of their daily routine, and how their captors treated them.

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But can any of us really come close to understanding the utter despair they must have felt?

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How can someone continue to believe that humankind is basically good when they see such atrocities

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being committed on a daily basis?

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And if they give up on humanity, what reason do they have any longer to show mercy, kindness,

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or compassion? In Night, one prisoner actually kills his

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own father for a loaf of bread.

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Certainly, we can't blame something like that purely on hunger.

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He had been reduced to an animal, systematically broken down, day after day.

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We can imagine that all sorts of beliefs were tested by the unfortunate prisoners of the

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camps.

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How did their experiences affect the way they viewed their own religion?

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Would their God allow such horrors to befall them?

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Surely there were many in Eliezer's company at Buchenwald who felt compelled to renounce

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their religion after being subjected to such a living Hell.

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And what about their feelings toward race?

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Clearly the Nazis had their own issues when it came to ethnicity...

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...but Jews who previously exhibited no animosity toward others...

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...might have suddenly developed resentment, distrust and... plenty of hatred... toward

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pretty much every gentile.

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This was Eliezer's struggle... to preserve and hold onto whatever shreds of decency and

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virtue he could...

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...as he fought at the same time to simply stay alive.

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So... put yourself in Eliezer's shoes for a minute.

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How would you have dealt with the horrors he faced?

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Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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