Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Bailey Peeples
Ms. Crowell
Advanced Composition
11 December 2017
Night is not meant for teens: The Reasoning of a Good Holocaust Education
Elie Wiesels memoir Night, contains graphic concepts that create controversy among
high schools. Some consider the content inappropriate for young readers due to the raw,
gruesome events that Elie experiences. Americans have become so sensitive to the point that
they choose to ignore these crucial parts of worlds history instead of learning and becoming
more educated about these issues. Although the holocaust the single worst thing that happened in
history, Elie Wiesels Night, should be taught in schools to make the future leaders of the world
have more empathy toward history and develop a sense of understanding about the Jewish
culture and how the Jews died, survived, and fought in the Holocaust.
Some people believe teaching the elements of the Holocaust and reading Night is too
graphic and contains content that is past the maturity level of high school students. By exposing
students to Elies journey through the camps, parents will lose their feeling of security and
protection they have over their children. Because the Holocaust is such a sensitive topic to
discuss in peoples everyday lives, it is easy to believe that children and young adults should be
sheltered and left ignorant on the family separation, starvation, and excessive killing that all
occurred in Elies life and to the people surrounding him. That night, the soup tasted of corpses
(65) emphasizes the brutality and exposure Elie felt from people being killed. Elie experiences
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young children lingering between life and death (65) which makes him eventually know
what people live in today. Without school systems including Night in their curriculum, students
will have no exposure or knowledge regarding the battles of the individuals in the Holocaust.
Elie changes mentally, physically, and spiritually in his journey in ways that teens can relate to
and understand. Although teens today will never come close to the sickness and pain Elie feels or
never be told work or crematorium the choice is yours (39) Night will teach them empathy
and perseverance. Elie learns to numb out the pain and weakness because he will not let death be
an option. When Elie feels like giving up, he pushes himself for the people surrounding him.
Wiesel showcases Elies selflessness in the scene where Elie runs to the abandoned village with
an injured foot and tells Zalman, Soon we will come to a halt. We cannot run like this to the end
of the world (86). Everyone can find value in selfless actions. In Night, Elie executes amazing
Students will learn from Elies spiritual change and development by comparing him at
the beginning of his journey to the end. Elie starts his spiritual growth by asking his father to
find me a master who can guide me my studies of Kabbalah (4). Elie tells the audience that
people do not begin studying the Kabbalah until their thirties. This accentuates Elies drive and
interest to do things out of the norm and to grow in his faith. After having Moshie the Beadle
as his mentor Elie says, I became convinced that Moshie the Beadle would help me enter
eternity, into that time when question and answer would become ONE (5). Elies faith in God
and prayer illustrates how God helps get him through the Holocaust. Even though Elie loses
faith, he never stops believing. When Elie becomes so angry and questions himself with What
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was there to thank Him for? (33). He begins to question his faith, but never lets it run out.
Despite the religious aspect of Elies faith, he shows the audience how to have faith in others
when he says, I ran to look for my father. At the same time I was afraid to wish him a happy
year in which I no longer believes (68). Elie continues to love and care for his fathers well-
being when he cares about nothing else, and his father solely helps Elie makes it through the
majority of his time at the camps. Elie and his father have faith in each other once his faith in
God diminishes. By saying all of that, teens can learn how to have faith in one another and in
God if they choose to. Elie illustrates great acts of heroism and bravery when he admits that he
has lost faith in God and still chooses not to give up.
Even though the Holocaust was a worldwide tragedy that makes teens feel down and
disturbed, Night aids the emotional and spiritual development in teenagers. The raw stories Elie
shares with the audience allows him to show them his vulnerability and the success that he has
later in life. In Elies Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, he makes note to tell us how he feels
about basic human rights and his growth after liberation. By making Elies journey a model for
young teenagers lives, students will be able to learn and grow from his tragic experiences.
Students can become better individuals by educating themselves about the Holocaust and will be
able to learn and appreciate the value of life and be grateful for the circumstances they live in.
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Work Cited
Wiesel, Elie. Night. Translated by Marion Wiesel, Hill and Wang, 2006.