night elie wiesel thesis essay

105 Night by Elie Wiesel : Night Essay Topics & Examples

Night by Elie Wiesel is one of the most powerful books on Holocaust and Nazi German concentration camps. If you’re looking for Night essay topics and tips on how to master your Night essay , you have come to the right place.

✍️ Night Essay: How to Write

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Night’s major themes include faith and dehumanization, but there are many other aspects that you can explore. This article will provide you with topics, samples, and tips on how to write your essay, including Night thesis statement.

This article will show a few essential tips on how to write the paper and provide you with ideas for your Night by Elie Wiesel essay thesis.

Before you start your work on the paper, we’d suggest you to wipe out all the distractions: turn off the phone and TV. Use app- and website-blocking tools to concentrate on your research and writing.

Now, when you’re concentrated enough, check the next steps to write an A+ paper.

• Pick up a topic and narrow it. Read the book and choose a topic that you find interesting. Then narrow it as much as possible. The key idea of this step is the narrower your topic will be, the easier will be your writing process.
• Clarify your ideas and arguments. Think about what you’re going to discuss in your paper. Define key arguments you will use. You can use mindmapping tools that will help you to organize your ideas in a logical flow. Later, this will help you to write a Night essay outline.
• Search for examples and quotes to support your arguments. Research quotes to support your point of view. You can also use examples from other literary masterpieces, especially if you’re writing a compare and contrast essay. Make sure not to use too many citations: use 3 to 5 quotes and examples as evidence. You may also use a quote as an essay hook.
• Create an outline of your paper. Outlining helps you to structure your ideas and arguments. Moreover, a detailed outline makes the writing process much easier.

When writing your essay’s introduction, pay attention to the thesis statement. The function of paper thesis is to state your opinion and give your readers an understanding of what the essay is about. If you’re struggling with your Night thesis statement, check out these examples:

• In Night , Elie Wiesel demonstrates how extreme circumstances challenge a person’s religious beliefs.
• The author shows how dehumanization affected the main character and made him gradually lose his humanity.
• The atrocities suffered by the main character made him lose his childhood in a traumatic way.
• Father and son in “Night”: relationship dynamic.
• Destructive power of family ties in “Night.”
• Analysis of Death March in “Night.”
• “Night’s” ending: is it hopeful?
• Power and violence in Wiesel’s “Night.”
• “Night”: the significance of the title.
• What does Elie Wiesel write about the death of God?

If you’re struggling with a Night theme to choose for your paper, you may find some interesting ideas below:

• Theme of family. Analyze the relations between the father and son. Why it is important to stay with your family, especially during challenging times?
• Theme of faith and God. Analyze, why does the author writes about the death of God? Provide your own reflection on God and faith. What makes people believe in gods even when there is no hope?
• Power and violence. Think, why Germans who had a power made use violence to force Jews into concentration camps. Read the episode about the Death March and explore why German Soldiers never deprived themselves of killing prisoners who could not keep up.

If writing Night by Elie Wiesel Essay is still a challenging process, check our selection of free paper samples and other useful information at IvyPanda to get advice and find an inspiration!

• The Relationship Between Eliezer and His Father Essay Their experience at the concentration camp changes the relationship between son and father, and the despicable treatment by the Nazis helps Eliezer and his father develop a strong connection.
• Understanding of God – “Night” by Elie Wiesel Although Elie questions the whole concept of faith in God, he never stops to ask questions that connect him with God.
• Elizer’s Struggle to Keep Faith in God This was an indication that although his faith had started to change, he still had faith in God. He was able to come out of the holocaust with a stronger faith.
• Night by Elie Wiesel: Eliezer’s Changing Relationship With His Father He began to feel the loss and gripped with fear of losing his father, the forthcoming experiences and need for protection; he clings to his father.
• Conceptual Inconsistency in “Night” by Elie Wiesel For people who have not been completely deprived of their ability to utilize their sense of logic, as a result of being continuously brainwashed by hawks of political correctness, it does not make a whole […]
• Critique of Elie Wiesel’s Holocaust Book “Night” Like many books on the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel’s Night is a dramatic picture of the horror times in the history of humankind and particularly in the history of the Jewish people.
• Night by Elie Wiesel The book notes that when the Jews were forced into the concentration camps, Elie and his family remained calm and obeyed every directive from their oppressors. The author attributed the enmity among the Jews to […]
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• Wiesel’s Night and Solzhenitsyn’s A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich: Concentration Camps Comparison Nowadays, it has become a commonplace practice to refer to the novels Night by Elie Wiesel and A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn as such that is concerned with revealing […]
• The Memoir “Night” by Elie Wiesel The incident changed Eliezer’s attitude where the fulfillment of getting the bread at that particular period outweighed the life of his father.
• Contemplation of Indifference in Elie Wiesel’s “Night” The theme of disregard is especially prevalent in the interaction of the Jews on their way to the camps and those that remain in Wiesel’s native Sighet.
• The Narrative of “Night” by Elie Wiesel The recurring themes of Night, by Elie Wiesel reflect the poignant feelings of disgust of writer against mankind and gradually his loss of faith in God, helplessness and hopelessness of a child who entirely disgusts […]
• Understanding of God in Eliezer’s “Night” His unshakable and unconditional faith in God is demonstrated at the beginning of the text through his interest in Talmud, and expressing grief over the destruction of the Temple.
• “Night” by Elie Wiesel: Holocaust and Genocide Given that the events are seen through the eyes of the young person, the major emphasis is placed upon the main character’s perception of the violence and death taking place around him and gradual loss […]
• Nazi Deception and the Demoralization and Dehumanization of Eliezer and His Fellow Prisoners The novel describes one of the most horrible periods in the history of humanity. The prisoners of the Nazis little knew about their future and they were likely to deceive themselves.
• The Central Themes in “Night” by Elie Wiesel Literature Analysis At the beginning of the novel, we meet Eliezer and his father, the main characters, the destinies of whom we will follow up to the end of the novel.
• The Relation Between Eliezer and His Father in Night by Elie Wiesel Soon after that, the Nazis sent them to Auschwitz, but, because of the hardships of the way, only Eliezer and his father arrived there alive. That is how the author’s attitude to and relations with […]
• The Book “Night” by Elie Wiesel The book is a powerful testimony to the horrors of the holocaust and how people can lose their humanity and innocence.
• Eliezer’s Transformations Throughout Night by Wiesel One of the first stages in the main character’s Eliezer transformation is his childhood and the desire to study Talmud and Kabbalah at a young age.
• The Book “Night” by Elie Wiesel Eliezer is the narrator in the tale and experiences multiple challenges throughout the story. Faith, guilt and inaction, and inhumanity are some of the narratives themes that readers can analyze when focusing on the various […]
• “Night” by Elie Wiesel and the Book of Job Comparison Job’s friends tell him that sins caused his sufferings; yet, he refuses to accept it and claims that God still cares for him.
• Holocaust Experience in the Book ‘Night’ by Elie Wiesel Eliezer’s depiction in the story as the main character in the story is that of a humble and religious young man.
• The Jewish Holocaust Novel ‘Night’ by Eliezer Wiesel Generally, Eliezer admired the fact that his father was prayerful and he kept his utmost faith in God even in the time of oppression.
• Eliezer’s Faith in God – “Night” by Elie Wiesel Literature Analysis Eliezer’s faith in God changes throughout the book, as Eliezer experiences the challenges of the Holocaust. The events in the book regarding Elizer’s faith are quite sarcastic and dramatic as Eliezer’s faith moves from an […]
• Night by Ellie Wiesel The paper summarizes the reasoning of the writer and goes a notch higher to analyze some of the themes in order to establish the relevance of the book to the modern political environment.
• Eliezer’s Struggle to Keep His Faith in God It was after he joined the camp that his faith decreased as he could not clearly understand why God could not rescue him and others that he deemed to have suffered more than he did, […]
• Eliezer’s Lost Childhood and the Image in the Mirror The author of the book presents his hero in two ways: on the one hand, he depicts the boy, who is full of hopes and expectations; on the other hand, he shows the boy whose […]
• Night by Elie Wiesel: Eliezer’s Relationship With His Father The relationship Eliezer has with his father at the beginning of the story can be compared to the one he has with God soon after the tough experiences and problems at the Nazi concentration camps […]
• Change in Wiesel’s Understanding of God But this did not change the faith he had in God and he continued believing that God was going to safe them. He believed that the Jews were faithful to God but his understanding was […]
• Wiesel’s Changing Understanding of God The faith that Wiesel had in God was enormous, in spite of the increasing abuse and hatred that the Nazis had for the Jews.
• Comparison of Night by Elie Weisel and Cry of the Beloved Country by Paton Wiesel was brought up in the mountains of the present day Romania and in 1944, at fifteen years old, his family was captured as part of a mission by the Germans to torture the Jews.
• The Importance of Maintaining Faith and Goal to Endure and Overcome Situation in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Terrifying Encounters of the “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Examples of Extreme Dehumanization and Genocide Portrayed in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Dehumanizing Sufferings During the Holocaust in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Meaning of the Poem in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• Violations of Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Elie Wiesel’s “Night”
• The Symbol of Fire During the Holocaust in the Novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Power of the Nazis, Death, Loss of Humanity and of Faith in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Portrayal of the Hard Life in a Concentration Camp in Elie Wiesel’s “Night”
• Reliability of Testimonies of the Holocaust Survivors: Elie Wiesel’s “Night” and Binjamin Wilkomirski’s “Fragments”
• The Theme of Peer Pressure in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Father-Son Relationship Theme in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Transformation of Eliezer’s Relationship With God in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Survival of the Jewish People in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Inhumanity of the Genocide During the Holocaust in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Psychological Transformation of Holocaust Victims Caused by the Fight to Survive in Two Novels: Elie Wiesel’s “Night” and Art Spiegelman’s “Maus”
• The Experiences at the Nazi Death Camp as Described in Elie Wiesel’s “Night”
• The Life Journey of Elie From Schoolboy to Corpse in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Importance of Studying the Holocaust in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Heartbreaking Stories and Memories of Holocaust Survivors in Elie Wiesel’s “Night” and John Chua’s “Marion’s Triumph”
• The Lose of Faith in God in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Transformation of Eliezer’s Personality Throughout the “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Significance of Family Ties in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Human History and the Desire for the Agony in the Novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• Theme of Self Respect in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Horrors of Genocide: “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Loss of Faith in Humanity in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Role of Spirituality and Religion in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Theme of Darkness in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The True Picture of the Holocaust in Elie Wiesel’s “Night”
• The Three Levels of Racism in the Holocaust in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Use of Literary Techniques in Elie Wiesel’s “Night”
• The Genocide and the Holocaust of “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Issues of the World War Two as Portrayed in the Novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Role of Religion in James McBride’s “Color of Water” and Elie Wiesel’s “Night”
• The Creation of Suspense in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Significance of “Night” by Elie Wiesel for the Audience of the 21st Century
• The Frightened and Lonely Attitude of the Speaker in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Struggle of the Holocaust Survivor in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Unique Perspective of Elie on Human Rights Due to His Holocaust Experiences in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• The Value of Time in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• A Life After the Concentration Camp in “Night” by Elie Wiesel
• What Was Hitler’s Reasoning for His War on Jews in “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• What Are the Imagery and Literary Devices in “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• How Life Through the Holocaust Is Imaged in “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• Does the Book “Night” by Elie Wiesel Lead to Hope or Despair?
• What Psychological Changes in Victims Are Showed in “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• What Is the Most Devastating Choice Made in the Book “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• How Trauma, Memory, and Timelessness Are Illustrated in “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• What Is the Historical Context of “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• How Can Reading “Night” by Elie Wiesel Change Views on the Holocaust?
• How Does “Night” by Elie Wiesel Contribute to Modern Society?
• What Does the Title “Night” by Elie Wiesel Evoke?
• What Is the Thematic Message of “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• Why Is Contextual Knowledge Important When Reading “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• What Is the Overriding Tone of the Book “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• What Are a Few Examples of a Thesis Sentence About “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• Can Death Be a Motif in the Book “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• How Does Symbolism in “Night” by Elie Wiesel Further the Authorial Message?
• What Does Elie Mean by the Ordinary World in “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• Why Is Juliek’s Violin So Important in “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• What Are the Examples of Perseverance in “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• Is Survival Selfish in the Book “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• What Is the Desire for the Agony in the Novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• What Is Elie’s Relationship With God in the “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• What Are the Experiences That Can Change a Person’s Life in “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
• What Are Some Examples of Dehumanization in “Night” by Elie Wiesel?
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Bibliography

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Themes and Analysis

By elie wiesel.

'Night' is a short and incredibly impactful novel that uses direct language and avoids metaphors and other figures of speech to tell its story.

Article written by Emma Baldwin

B.A. in English, B.F.A. in Fine Art, and B.A. in Art Histories from East Carolina University.

Wiesel depicts his experiences in the Holocaust through the eyes of Eliezer who conveys the terrors of what he endured and saw. Readers will likely note reoccurring themes of faith, silence, and inhumanity, as well as symbols that include corpses, fire, and night. 

Night Themes 

Faith .

Throughout the novel, Elie is forced to question his faith in God. When God does not step in and stop the horrors around him, Elie has to consider that his faith may have been wrong all along. He learned that God demands sacrifice but is, in the end, compassionate and loving, that’s far from what he learned firsthand during his experiences in the novel, Night . Despite the fact that Eliezer says he’s lost his faith several times, Wiesel includes religious allusions and figurative language that suggest that that’s not completely true. By the end of the novel, while his understanding of the world and religion has shifted, he’s not completely without faith. 

Silence/Indifference 

This is one of the primary themes in the novel, and one that can be found in Wiesel’s other works as well as lectures. Elie is constantly bothered by the silence of God and the silence of other men and women in Europe throughout the novel.

There are numerous examples of indifference throughout the novel. Elie notes the village’s indifferent reaction when Moishe returns with news of what he’s seen, the German people’s ability to ignore what’s going on right in front of their faces, and of course, the Nazi soldier’s indifference to the lives they were destroying. One of the most telling scenes comes towards the end of the novel when the prisoners are running toward Gleiwitz and are being shot down by guards if they paused for even a moment. 

Inhumanity 

Indifference and silence go hand in hand with inhumanity in Night. It’s impossible to read this novel and not walk away feeling horrified by the inhuman practices promoted and carried out by the Nazi regime. Eliezer has trouble making sense of the world after seeing some of the terrible things that happened inside and outside the camps. One such scene comes after he’s arrived with his father and they walk past a pit in which S.S. soldiers are burning the bodies of children.

Additionally, the prisoner on prisoner violence and hate is another aspect of the inhuman environment Eliezer had to endure. The men in his camps were so desperate they turned on one another, even sons on fathers. This is seen quite clearly at the end of the novel when the prisoners beat Eliezer’s father and effectively end his life. 

Analysis of Key Moments in Night

• Elie studies with Moishe the Beadle. Moishe is expelled from Sighet. 
• Moishe returns and tells everyone what he saw and experienced. 
• German soldiers come to Sighet and place restrictions of Jews living there. 
• Eliezer and his family are moved into a ghetto
• Eliezer and his family are transported to Birkenau on cattle cars. 
• Elie is separated from his mother and sisters . 
• The men are taken to Auschwitz. 
• Elie is given number r A-7713. 
• Everyone goes to Buna. 
• Elie is beaten and has his gold crown removed. 
• Elie watches a young boy executed. 
• Elie’s father barely passes inspection. 
• The death march begins from Buna to an abandoned village and then Gleiwitz. 
• Everyone gets on a train to Buchenwald and very few survive the journey. 
• Elie’s father dies of dysentery and a beating from the other men. 
• Elie is liberated from the camp. 

Style, Tone, and Figurative Language in Night

Throughout Night, Wiesel writes about Elie’s experiences in a detached tone. He uses short sentences and clear words to report on what Elie saw and what he felt. Wiesel was trying to put his experiences into words, in a way that accurately represented them but allowed him to keep some distance from the character of Eliezer. The text is sparse, with very few complex passages or examples of figurative language. Elie Wiesel chose to speak directly to the reader in a way that could not be misunderstood.

Often, Wiesel does take a step back from a terrible scene, talking around it rather than directly describing it. For example, when he speaks about an S.S. guard shooting a prisoner. 

The tone in the novel is serious throughout . There are no light or happy moments. Even when the novel concludes and the camp has been liberated, Elie concludes the novel with a striking scene of loss and sorrow with Eliezer standing in front of a mirror. 

Analysis of Symbols in Night

Night .

One of the most obvious and important symbols in the novel is night. By naming the novel “night” and pushing themes of religious doubt, it’s important to consider Genesis and the passages regarding God’s creation of the earth. First, the Bile says, there was “darkness upon the face of the deep.” It’s this darkness, with the absence of God, that Eliezer lives through. Light is absent from some of the most important scenes in the novel, such as when Eliezer’s father is talking to him about the deportation of the Jews and when they arrive at Birkenau/Auschwitz. 

Fire is a symbol of death and destruction in Night. It is used by the Nazis to destroy evidence of their genocide. It first appears in a horrifying passage when Madame Schächter cries out “ Fire! Look at the flames! Flames everywhere ,” when the train arrives in Birkenau. When the train pulls in, Eliezer can smell burning flesh immediately. This is something that haunts the rest of the novel. The fire is an ever-present reminder of the deaths waiting for those able to escape the initial threat of the crematorium. 

Corpses 

Corpses appear throughout the novel, bringing into the light the true extent of the horrors the Nazi regime perpetrated on the Jewish people. Eliezer is forced to witness deaths and sees piles of bodies. The image of a corpse also appears at the end of the novel when Eliezer looks at himself in the mirror and thinks that he looks more than a corpse than he does a living person. It’s a symbol for the death of who he was, the strength of his faith, and the loss of the 11 million who did in the Holocaust . 

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About Emma Baldwin

Emma Baldwin, a graduate of East Carolina University, has a deep-rooted passion for literature. She serves as a key contributor to the Book Analysis team with years of experience.

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The Story of ‘Night’

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By Rachel Donadio

• Jan. 20, 2008

This fall, Elie Wiesel’s “Night” was removed from the New York Times best-seller list, where it had spent an impressive 80 weeks after Oprah Winfrey picked it for her book club. The Times’s news survey department, which compiles the list, decided the Holocaust memoir wasn’t a new best seller but a classic like “Animal Farm” or “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which sell hundreds of thousands of copies a year largely through course adoptions. Indeed, since it appeared in 1960, “Night” has sold an estimated 10 million copies — three million of them since Winfrey chose the book in January 2006 (and traveled with Wiesel to Auschwitz).

But “Night” had taken a long route to the best-seller list. In the late 1950s, long before the advent of Holocaust memoirs and Holocaust studies, Wiesel’s account of his time at Auschwitz and Buchenwald was turned down by more than 15 publishers before the small firm Hill & Wang finally accepted it. How “Night” became an evergreen is more than a publishing phenomenon. It is also a case study in how a book helped created a genre, how a writer became an icon and how the Holocaust was absorbed into the American experience.

Raised in an Orthodox family in Sighet, Transylvania, Wiesel was liberated from Buchenwald at age 16. In unsentimental detail, “Night” recounts daily life in the camps — the never-ending hunger, the sadistic doctors who pulled gold teeth, the Kapos who beat fellow Jews. On his first day in the camps, Wiesel was separated forever from his mother and sister. At Auschwitz, he watched his father slowly succumb to dysentery before the SS beat him to within an inch of his life. Wiesel writes honestly about his guilty relief at his father’s death. In the camps, the formerly observant boy underwent a profound crisis of faith; “Night” was one of the first books to raise the question: where was God at Auschwitz?

Working as a journalist in his mid-20s, Wiesel wrote the first version of “Night” in Yiddish as “Und di Velt Hot Geshvign” (“And the World Remained Silent”) while on assignment in Brazil. But it wasn’t until he returned to Paris and met François Mauriac, a noted Catholic novelist and journalist, that “Night” took the shape we know today. Mauriac urged Wiesel to rewrite the book in French and promised to write a preface. Still, “it was rejected by the major publishers,” Wiesel recalled in a recent interview, “although it was brought to them by François Mauriac, the greatest, greatest writer and journalist in France, a Catholic, a Nobel Prize-winner with all the credentials.” Les Éditions de Minuit brought it out in 1958, but it sold poorly.

The American response was similarly tepid. Georges Borchardt, Wiesel’s longtime literary agent and himself a Holocaust survivor, sent the French manuscript to New York publishers in 1958 and 1959, to little effect. “Nobody really wanted to talk about the Holocaust in those days,” Borchardt said. “The Diary of Anne Frank,” published in the United States in 1952, had been a huge success, but it did not take readers into the horror of the camps. Although “Night” had sophisticated literary motifs and a quiet elegance, American publishers worried it was more a testimonial than a work of literature. “It is, as you say, a horrifying and extremely moving document, and I wish I could say this was something for Scribner’s,” an editor there wrote to Borchardt. “However, we have certain misgivings as to the size of the American market for what remains, despite Mauriac’s brilliant introduction, a document.” Kurt Wolff, the head of Pantheon, also turned “Night” down. Although it had qualities “not brought out in any other book,” Pantheon had “always refrained from doing books of this kind,” meaning books about the Holocaust, he wrote to Borchardt.

Finally, in 1959, Arthur Wang of Hill & Wang agreed to take on “Night.” The first reviews were positive. Gertrude Samuels, writing in the Book Review, called it a “slim volume of terrifying power.” Alfred Kazin, writing in The Reporter, said Wiesel’s account of his loss of faith had a “particular poignancy.” After the Kazin review, the book “got great reviews all over America, but it didn’t influence the sales,” Wiesel said.

The trial of Adolf Eichmann in 1961 brought the Holocaust into the mainstream of American consciousness. Other survivors began writing their stories — but with higher visibility came the first glimmerings of criticism. In a roundup of Holocaust literature in Commentary in 1964, the critic A. Alvarez said “Night” was “beyond criticism” as a “human document,” but called it “a failure as a work of art.” Wiesel, he argued, had failed to “create a coherent artistic world out of one which was the deliberate negation of all values.”

By the early ’70s, the Holocaust had become a topic of study in universities, spurred in part by the rise of “ethnic studies” more generally and a surge of interest in Jewish history after Israel’s dramatic military victory in the Israeli-Arab wars of 1967 and 1973. Wiesel, who had moved to New York in the mid-’50s, began lecturing regularly at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan and teaching at the City University of New York. (Since 1976 he has taught at Boston University.)

Although his books were all reviewed respectfully, some critics questioned Wiesel’s role as a self-appointed witness. “His personal project has been to keep the wounds of Auschwitz open by repeatedly pouring the salt of new literary reconstructions upon them, and thus to prevent the collective Jewish memory — and his own — from quietly letting the wounds heal,” Leon Wieseltier, now the literary editor of The New Republic, wrote in Commentary in 1974. Reviewing Wiesel’s novel “The Oath,” about a pogrom, Wieseltier criticized Wiesel for “turning history into legend.” His characters were “archetypes of the varieties of Jewish pain,” Wieseltier wrote, so “what remains is ... a kind of elaborate superficiality which does justice neither to the author’s intentions nor to his terrible subject matter.”

In 1978, President Carter appointed Wiesel to a commission that eventually created the Holocaust Museum. In Wiesel’s mind, the “real breakthrough” that brought “Night” into wide view came in 1985, when he spoke out against President Reagan’s planned visit to the Bitburg military cemetery in Germany, where SS members were buried. While Reagan was awarding him a Congressional Gold Medal at the White House, Wiesel told him: “That place, Mr. President, is not your place. Your place is with the victims of the SS.” The next day, Wiesel’s words were on front pages worldwide. (Reagan still made the trip.)

Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the following year. The Nobel committee called Wiesel “a messenger to mankind,” teaching “peace, atonement and human dignity.” Wiesel’s “commitment, which originated in the sufferings of the Jewish people, has been widened to embrace all repressed peoples and races.” By the late ’90s, “Night” was a standard high school and college text, selling around 400,000 copies a year.

Yet some critics have homed in on the very qualities that have helped “Night” find a broad readership. Some have criticized Wiesel for universalizing — and even Christianizing — Jewish suffering. In “The Holocaust in American Life” (1999), the historian Peter Novick cites crucifixion imagery in “Night” as evidence of the “un-Jewish” or Christian tenor to much Holocaust commemoration. Others have suggested Wiesel may have revised the book to appeal to non-Jewish readers. In a 1996 essay, Naomi Seidman, a Jewish studies professor at Berkeley’s Graduate Theological Union, detected strong notes of vengeance in the Yiddish version. In the final scene, after the camp has been liberated, Wiesel writes of young men going into Weimar “to rape German girls.” But there’s no mention of rape in the subsequent French or English translations. Wiesel said his thinking had changed between versions. “It would have been a disgrace to reduce such an event to simple vengeance.”

To Lawrence L. Langer, an eminent scholar of Holocaust literature and a friend of Wiesel’s, what sets “Night” apart is a moral honesty that “helps undermine the sentimental responses to the Holocaust.” To Langer, “Night” remains an essential companion — or antidote — to “The Diary of Anne Frank.” That book, with its ringing declaration that “I still believe that people are really good at heart,” is “easy for teachers to teach,” Langer said, but “from the text you don’t know what happened when she died of typhus, half-starved at Bergen-Belsen.” Wiesel takes a similar view. “Where Anne Frank’s book ends,” he said, “mine begins.”

Rachel Donadio is a writer and editor at the Book

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Paperpile vs zotero, ava ai is launched to transform student counseling, themes of “night” by elie wiesel.

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The following review example can serve as a guide for students trying to find inspiration when writing an assignment. 

What makes the story real? Not the reliability of facts or the fact that it’s based on real events. The main element is honesty. Integrity to share the happiest and the saddest moments, success and despair. The real story is raw to the bone, and the real author never hides behind the pen and paper.

This is the case for Elie Wiesel. The writer chooses memoir to go uncensored with his thoughts and memories about the most challenging moment in his life and the scariest event in history – war. 

Elie Wiesel’s “Night” is a powerful narrative that delves into the darkest chapters of human history through the eyes of a young Jewish boy, Eliezer. This semi-autobiographical novel, though woven with fictional elements, deeply reflects Wiesel’s harrowing experiences in Nazi concentration camps. “Night” is not just a story of survival but also a testament to the human spirit facing unimaginable horrors. In this article, we’ll explore the central themes that emerge from this profound work, rendered in simple text for clarity and understanding.

In this article, we’ll discover the main themes in “Night” and their meaning. 

Loss of Identity

The themes of “Night” by Elie Wiesel explore profound aspects of human nature and spirituality. Eliezer’s journey begins in his hometown, where he is deeply immersed in Jewish teachings and traditions. His profound identity as a young, devout Jew is starkly contrasted with the dehumanization he endures under the Nazi regime. The camps strip him of his name, his hair, and eventually, his faith, reducing him to a mere number. The transformation is so drastic that Eliezer, along with other prisoners, begins to see themselves as nothing more than animals, fighting over scraps of bread. This theme highlights not just a loss of personal identity but the obliteration of humanity itself.

“In the afternoon, they made us line up. Three prisoners brought a table and some medical instruments. We were told to roll up our left sleeves and file past the table. The three “veteran” prisoners, needles in hand, tattooed numbers on our left arms. I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name.”

Loss of identity, faith, the oppressive silence, and the ubiquity of suffering are not just historical reflections but also universal questions that resonate across time. Wiesel’s narrative serves as a stark reminder of the depths of darkness humanity can reach, and the resilience required to search for light amid such darkness.

Loss of Faith

The core of Eliezer’s being is his faith, which is deeply challenged by the atrocities he witnesses. At the beginning of the narrative, Eliezer declares, “I believed profoundly.”  

“I was twelve. I believed profoundly. During the day I studied the Talmud, and at night I ran to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple.”

In the concentration camps of Birkenau-Auschwitz, the horrors Eliezer witnesses begin to shake his faith in God. The crematoriums burn without end, devouring countless lives, including the most innocent of all—children. The cruelty he observes and endures is unimaginable, more brutal than one would ever treat animals. He struggles with the idea of a just God who would allow such atrocities.

“Night. No one prayed, so that the night would pass quickly. The stars were only sparks of the fire which devoured us. Should that fire die out one day, there would be nothing left in the sky but dead stars, dead eyes.”

Despite the terror surrounding them, Eliezer is struck by the sight of fellow Jews clinging to their faith, praying and seeking solace in their beliefs. This perseverance in the face of such evil puzzles him; it seems to demonstrate a strength and a capacity for forgiveness that surpasses the deity they worship.

As time goes on, death becomes a constant companion in the camps, and despair takes root. Eliezer, along with others, loses any remaining belief in a benevolent God. This sentiment is shared by others, like Akiba Drumer and a rabbi Eliezer speaks with, who conclude that a God cannot exist in a world that allows the Holocaust to happen.

“Behind me, I heard the same man asking: “Where is God now?” And I heard a voice within me answer him: “Where is He? Here He is—He is hanging here on this gallows. . . . “”

Eliezer’s faith is irreparably damaged during an execution at Buna, where a young boy is hanged before the eyes of the prisoners. A voice from the crowd pierces the air with the question, “ Where is God now? ” In his heart, Eliezer believes that if God exists, He is present in the suffering of the boy on the gallows, who dies a slow, agonizing death while the prisoners are forced to witness.

Silence permeates “Night,” symbolizing both the incomprehensible absence of God and the muted response of the world to the Holocaust. Eliezer grapples with God’s silence, unable to reconcile it with the loving deity he was raised to worship. 

This theme is painfully illustrated when Eliezer fails to answer his dying father’s call, a silence born of utter despair and hopelessness. Wiesel uses this motif to challenge the reader, posing difficult questions about divine and human inaction in the face of atrocity.

Fathers and Sons

Eliezer’s story begins with him witnessing his father cry for the first time when they are forced to leave their home. This is significant because it shows a crack in the strong figure his father has always been. The memoir “Night” delves into the breakdown of father-son bonds under the extreme conditions of the Holocaust. Central to this theme is the changing relationship between Eliezer and his father, which also reflects on the relationships between other fathers and sons in the concentration camps.

Before the Holocaust, Eliezer’s father is a respected figure both in the community and at home. Their relationship is based on tradition, where honoring one’s parents is a key commandment, especially in Jewish families like theirs. But once Eliezer and his father are separated from the rest of their family at Birkenau, they only have each other. As his father becomes weaker, the roles they once played change. Eliezer finds himself in the position of being the protector, rather than the one protected.

Life in the camps tests their relationship in many ways. Eliezer often feels guilty for being mad at his father when he can’t defend himself or keep up with the march. Despite his weakening state, his father still tries to look after Eliezer by giving him tools for survival and even saving him from being strangled on the train. But there’s only so much they can do to shield one another from suffering. As the conditions worsen and the weaker prisoners start dying, fathers start to be seen as burdens. Sons struggle with guilt over their survival instincts and their inability to save their fathers. Eliezer witnesses the extreme of this when a young man abandons his exhausted father, a rabbi, during a death march, and again on a train when a son kills his father for food.

These harsh realities force Eliezer to confront his feelings for his father. However, by the end of “Night,” these feelings become irrelevant. His father falls ill, no one is willing to provide medical help, and Eliezer is powerless to protect him or to stop others from causing harm. The roles and relationships that once defined them are irreversibly altered.

“Oh, to strangle the doctor and the others! To burn the whole world! My father’s murderers! But the cry stayed in my throat.”

Final thoughts

Elie Wiesel’s “Night” shares a heart-wrenching story of how the Holocaust tore apart people’s lives and faith. It shows the painful change in a son’s duty to his father and the struggle to keep hope alive. The book makes us think deeply about the harsh truths of survival and loss during one of history’s darkest times.

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by Elie Wiesel

Night essay questions.

Using examples from the text, what does Wiesel convey about human nature in the concentration camps? Where does he (if at all) draw the line between humanity and barbarism?

Early on, Eliezer indicates that it does not take much for a complete breakdown of civility to ensue. Even as the Jews are deported from Sighet, Eliezer reveals, couples began to openly copulate in the train car. As more and more time is spent in the camps, Eliezer describes a situation in which man turns into beast. This is best exemplified in which the guards throw bread into the train car and fighting ensues, to the point at which hunger is more important to the body that relationships are to the mind, and a man kills his own father for the piece of bread. As Eliezer describes: "Men were hurling themselves against each other, trampling, tearing at and mauling each other. Beasts of prey unleashed, animal hate in their eyes. An extraordinary vitality possessed them, sharpening their teeth and nails" (pg. 101). Eliezer does not shy away from describing himself as a beast: "I fought my way to the coffee cauldron like a wild beast" (pg. 106).

Discuss Eliezer’s struggle with faith throughout the book. What is his relationship with God in the beginning, and what is it by the end of his time in the concentration camps?

At the beginning, Eliezer is very devout, and he devotes his studies to mystic teaching and to prayer. While he never fully carries a disbelief in God, throughout this time in the concentration camps he comes to resent God, and to mistrust him. Rather than deny his existence, Eliezer instead turns to interrogating God's motives. He foreshadows this transformation at the start of the book, saying, "In the beginning there was faith—which is childish; trust—which is vain; and illusion—which is dangerous." (Forward). After time spent in the camps, Eliezer questions God: "What are You, my God? I thought angrily. How do You compare to this stricken mass gathered to affirm to You their faith, their anger, their defiance? What does Your grandeur mean, Master of the Universe, in the face of all this cowardice, this decay, and this misery? Why do you go on troubling these poor people's wounded minds, their ailing bodies?" (pg. 66.)

Throughout the piece, Eliezer sometimes separates his mind and his body. When are some examples of this, and what does he convey by describing himself in these ways?

The strongest example of when Eliezer separates himself from his body is during the death march in the snow, in which he describes his body as something that merely anchors him, acting against his desire to be free of pain and suffering. As he states: "I was putting one foot in front of the other, like a machine. I was dragging this emaciated body that was still such a weight. If only I could have shed it! Though I tried to put it out of my mind, I couldn't help thinking that there were two of us: my body and I. And I hated that body" (pg. 85). Another moment that conveys this separation of mind and body is when both his mind and his body are afraid of a blow to the head similar to the one that a guard had dealt his father: "I didn't move. I was afraid, my body was afraid of another blow, this time to my head" (pg. 111).

Though there are many images of prisoners struggling to live, there are also more unnerving ones of prisoners becoming so apathetic that their will to die is stronger. To what does Eliezer attribute this apathy, and how does he describe prisoner’s “will to live"?

Eliezer frequently attributes death of the prisoners not only to dire circumstances and the struggle for survival, but also to moments of apathy in which prisoners simply give up. More often than not, Eliezer attributes the loss of the will to live to two principal factors: the complete disbelief in God, and the knowledge that one's family has perished. The earliest evidence of this is the incident of Akiba Drumer, in which Eliezer lies to him and tells him that his family is well:

"'The only thing that keeps me alive,' [Drumer] kept saying, 'is to know that Reizel and the little ones are still alive. Were it not for them, I would give up.' One evening, he came to see us, his face radiant. 'A transport just arrived from Antwerp. I shall go to see them tomorrow. Surely they will have news …' He left. We never saw him again. He had been given the news. The real news"(pg. 45). When Eliezer believes that his father, who looks weakened and frozen after the march, may be dead, he says, "Suddenly, the evidence overwhelmed me: there was no longer any reason to live, any reason to fight" (pg. 99).

Discuss Eliezer and his father’s evolving relationship throughout the piece. At one point is there a role reversal—when does this happen, and how does Eliezer cope with it?

Throughout Night, Weisel describes how the trials of the concentration camp effectively switch the roles of father and son over time. The father-and-son relationship is first strained when Eliezer immediately understands the immediacy of the deportation threat and asks his father to "sell everything, liquidate everything, and to leave." Before even being deported, Eliezer's father refuses to get an immigration pass to Palestine, citing his age: "I am too old my son...too old to start a new life...too old to start from scratch in a distant land" (pg. 9). At the beginning of the piece, this is where the age difference between Eliezer and his father appears to be the widest; thereafter, the hardships narrow this chasm until, by the end of the piece, there is almost a complete temporal switch.

While there are indeed some instances in which Weisel's father looks out for his son (including giving him extra rations of bread) by the end, Eliezer begins to take on more and more responsibility for his father, until the pressure of having his father rely on him becomes almost unbearable. After the march through the snow, Eliezer's father develops dysentery and relies completely on his son for survival. The last word on his father's lips is "Eliezer." Eliezer feels numb to his father's death and feels guilty for being somehow grateful for his father's passing:"I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!" (pg. 112.)

Night Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Night is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Night, Chapter 2

From the text:

"There are eighty of you in the car," the German officer added. "If anyone goes missing, you will all be shot, like dogs."

What becomes elies main goal

In chapter three Elizer's main goal was for himself and his father to be selected for work and thus stay alive. They achieve this goal by lying to authorities and looking healthy enough to work.

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Study Guide for Night

Night study guide contains a biography of Elie Wiesel, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Night
• Night Summary
• Character List

Essays for Night

Night essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Night by Elie Wiesel.

• Silent Night
• The Motivation in Night
• The Gospel According to Mark and Night: Would St. Mark Call Night a 'Religious Book'?
• NIght and the Problem of Evil
• The Changing Nature of the Relationship Between Elie and His Father in Night

Lesson Plan for Night

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Night
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Night Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Night

• Introduction
• Film and television
• Video games

Night by Elie Wiesel: Essay Topics & Samples

Do you need to write an essay on Elie Wiesel’s Night ? Are you feeling too overwhelmed and don’t know how to start? No worries!

In this article, we’ve gathered everything you need to create an outstanding Night essay: topics, the most insightful questions, valuable prompts, and useful examples.

Night by Elie Wiesel Essay Topics

• The transformation of Eliezer’s personality throughout the book. Describe the main character’s personality at the beginning of the book. What were the boy’s interests? How did he perceive the world living in Sighet? Examine how the concentration camp changed Eliezer’s attitude towards life.
• The significance of family ties in Night by Elie Wiesel. Analyze the relationship between Eliezer and his father . In your opinion, are family ties a powerful or a destructive force for the main character? State your position and support it with good examples.
• Night : just a title or a powerful symbol? Does night itself symbolize anything in the book? If yes, what? What role does the symbol of the night play for the comprehension of the entire story? To make your essay more dynamic, consider inserting relevant quotes from the book.
• The religious context in Night, a novel by Elie Wiesel. Investigate Eliezer’s attitude towards God . Compare and contrast his perception of divine powers in the beginning and at the end of the book. What factors influenced the transformation of the main character’s worldview?
• Did Eliezer become a stronger or a weaker person? Analyze Eliezer’s transformation . Did the obstacles he went through make him feel weaker or stronger? Present your point of view and support it with valid arguments and appropriate evidence from the text.
• Is there a life after the concentration camp? “From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me” (Eliezer, Night ). How do you think Eliezer’s life will look like after the camp? Is there any chance he will be able to get back to everyday life?
• Eliezer’s relief after his father’s death: a betrayal or a normal reaction? Why do you think Eliezer felt like he got rid of the burden after his father passed away? Should the main character be ashamed about it? Analyze how the trials Eliezer went through transformed his attitude towards his dad.
• Hell on Earth. Describe the Nazi’s inhuman actions toward the deported Jews. What were the Nazi’s intentions? After Eliezer witnessed the tourers in the concentration camp, did he lose faith in God? Or did he only started questioning God’s justice and kindness?
• The unexpected interpretation of the symbol of fire. The fire is the central symbol Elie Wiesel includes in his book. Analyze its meaning and significance. Compare and contrast the role of the fire in Night and the Bible. Why do you think the author interprets fire in quite an unusual way?
• The significance of Night by Elie Wiesel for the audience of the 21 st century. Think about the lessons the modern readers could learn from this book. Will you suggest reading it to your children? In your opinion, can Night become outdated and irrelevant one day?

Night by Elie Wiesel: Essay Samples

In case you lack the inspiration to compose your Night essay, we collected the most insightful samples. Read their summaries, choose the one you most liked, and create your outstanding piece of writing!

• Father-Son Relationships in Eliezer Wiesel’s Book “Night” Are you about to write an essay on the evolution of the relationship between Eliezer and his father? Take a look at this example! You will find an analysis of the family ties and a bunch of crucial quotes.
• Jews’ Suffering in “Night” by Elie Wiesel Literature Analysis The given essay sample explores the trials the Jews were forced to go through during the Holocaust. Also, you will find some insights into Eliezer’s struggle to maintain his faith in God. Check it out!
• Events in the Concentration Camps: “Night” by Elie Wiesel This essay gives a general overview of the events that occurred to Eliezer and his fellow Jews in several concentration camps. Also, the author focuses on the effect of hardships on the relationship between Eliezer and his father.
• Eliezer and His Father in Elie Wiesel’s Night How did Eliezer change his attitude towards his father as the plot progresses? Curious about the reasons for the main character’s personality transformation? Read this essay and grasp the answers to all of your questions!
• Elie’s Life in “Night” by Elie Wiesel The following essay will take you into a long journey of Eliezer’s life, starting from Sighet and ending in the hospital in front of the mirror. Are you ready to feel compassion towards the main character? Check this essay out!
• Elie Wiesel’s “Night” – Eliezer’s Faith in God Eliezer’s relationship with God takes a separate storyline in the book. Do you want to investigate it? Take a look at this essay!
• Family Relationship in ”Night” by Elie Wiesel At the beginning of the book, Eliezer’s family is an exemplary one in Sighet. But how do the family ties shift throughout the story? Do they weaken or strengthen? Read this sample and figure it out!
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I Was a White Nationalist. Here’s What It Took to Change My Mind

I grew up in one of the leading families of the American white nationalist movement. My dad, Don Black, founded the first white power website and online community, and his closest friend since they were teens, David Duke, had run for and won office as an open white nationalist despite national condemnation. I joined my dad in giving national interviews advocating for the racist and antisemitic cause when I was 10, and I continued to believe in it and advocate for it on a national level throughout my teens.

By the time I went to college, I had become an international spokesperson for the movement and a presumed leader in waiting. In college, however, after initially flying under the radar, I was outed and spent several years engaging with a new community of people who were personally harmed and shocked at what I believed. It wasn’t the first time people told me racism was wrong and stupid. But it was the first time that I had been told I was not only wrong, but hurting people I knew and cared about. At the end of that experience, I condemned the beliefs I grown up in and have spent the decade since advocating against the movement I once expected to lead.

Looking back, it’s surprising that I no longer saw myself as a white nationalist when I publicly declared that I wasn’t one anymore. I’d dismissed the last pieces of that worldview months earlier, but it was in the moment of saying it out loud that I saw what it meant to “change my mind.” And that process had only been possible once I felt connected to a new community that challenged me.

Read More: The Power of Changing Your Mind

Students publicly debated what to do about me being there, and activists had organized a school shut down to address campus racism and discrimination. Others had invited me into their dorms. It had been in those private conversations where I tried to answer how I could see myself as someone who didn’t want to harm others and yet, advocated a worldview that hurt hundreds of people I knew and respected.

I was only able to have those conversations in dorm rooms, on walks, and in long car rides because I was talking to someone who had already become a significant person in my life. In those conversations, I had slowly accepted that the arguments about IQ, race, and crime I had learned at white nationalist conferences growing up were false. I had arrived at college believing I was someone who followed evidence—someone who did not reject anyone simply because of who they were. That led me to develop deep relationships with students of color and Jewish students. Although I didn’t immediately abandon my exclusionary worldview, it was the process of navigating that contradiction—of loving this new community and also being someone who caused them pain—that opened me to finally hearing, and truly considering, the plentiful and rigorous counter evidence to racist beliefs.

Accepting that my arguments and beliefs were wrong, both factually and morally, was incredibly hard. Even harder was the overwhelming pain of realizing that I had to walk away from the community that had raised me and formed nearly every significant relationship of my life up until that time.

What kept so many people in this ideological community, even though it brought them so much social stigma and criticism, was the feeling of being supported by the loyal community that reaffirmed their identity. New followers often showed up with common, and therefore less extreme, racist views that had often dominated the white communities they grew up in. What reaffirmed them was the bonds they formed. It was a movement that defined membership through demonstrations of ideological commitment and familiarity with the movement’s history and symbolism.

Read More: White American Christianity Needs to Be Honest About Its History of White Supremacy

Learning the arguments that white nationalists used to describe their all-encompassing view of the world became the measure of inclusion in the community. Their identities were defined by collective resentment and a shared understanding of who their enemies were. No evidence could reach them, not because they were uneducated or ignorant, but because their identity and community relied on the fact that they continued to believe in the cause.

Changing our minds about anything we hold dear often feels like accepting contradictory facts. But we only become open to doing that when there is a conflict between what we believe and our ability to connect with a community we love. That doesn’t mean we can convince ourselves of anything, or that facts don’t matter. But it does mean that trying to change someone’s mind about anything fundamental to who they are shouldn’t be seen as an academic debate. If we can recognize that changing someone’s beliefs is as sacred as changing their community, we can also see why it’s so rare and difficult.

It was only once I had condemned the movement I was raised in that I could finally see what seems obvious in retrospect. I was afraid to change my mind because I knew it would mean losing the sense of safety and security that this community had provided all my life. But it was also about seeing my sense of value change. Because it is our values that drive how we interact with others: whether we see ourselves as loyal friends, seekers of knowledge, reliable partners, or any other list of things at the core of our sense of self. We adopt our worldviews, decide what’s true or good evidence—and sometimes fundamentally change our minds about both of those things—based on who we feel responsible for and connected to. We love or reject others by following our values.

The white nationalist movement demands ideological conformity from people who generally see themselves as independent thinkers, loyal friends, and moral absolutists. What often unites them, even if they might not put it this way, is that they have seen the unequal society they were born in and try to justify it. Unlike antiracists, who choose to act to dismantle that unfairness, white nationalists seek to justify the hierarchy. And this community offers them supposed evidence to support that belief.

My dad often repeated the mantra that the members he was looking for weren’t necessarily extremists or militants. He wanted people who started sentences with the phrase, “I’m not a racist, but…” Whatever it was they said next was the seed of a more extreme belief that would make them feel at home in this community. The most effective pitch for white nationalist beliefs was always one that told people they did not need to feel guilty for being the beneficiaries of an unequal society. More than anything else, white nationalists told white people that calls of racism were nothing more than jealousy or hatred being expressed towards them as white people.

Antiracism, on the other hand, is a belief system that is much more expansive. Instead of justifying or advocating for separation, it is a worldview that seeks constantly to widen the circle of people that anyone can find connection, value, and loyalty to. And yet, it has oftentimes been harder to advocate for an antiracist worldview. Antiracism asks people to constantly change, to spend their lives trying to find new forms of connection with an ever-expanding group of people. It can be overwhelming. It is not less natural than the fear peddled by racism, but it can feel more risky to ask people to imagine something that does not yet exist—that is a work in progress.

When I first entered college, I had already heard the argument that racism was a horrible construct. But, for the first time, I felt like I could no longer fall back on the belief that the people—one specific person, in fact—on the other end of that message didn’t understand me or my beliefs. Instead, that specific person, after hearing me out over months, could recite back to me what I believed as well as I could. She was clear that she believed it was wrong on every level. It is rare to be able to sit with that level of dissonance and love someone when you fundamentally abhor their beliefs. Yet that is what is necessary to be able to engage with others and affect change.

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