Donna Heus
English 10, 4th
Themes of Night paper
Sept. 25, 2009
An Analysis of Ignorance as a theme in Elie Wiesel’s novel, Night
It is used by many high school students as an excuse for getting away with chicanery, “I didn’t know.” It is also used by many lazy workers as an excuse for not doing their jobs, “I didn’t know you wanted that done.” It is also used by many witnesses as an excuse for their inaction, “I didn’t know it was that bad.” Ignorance is an easy excuse, but saying “I didn’t know” does not excuse the crime of silence. However, sometimes it is not the witnesses who remain silent, it is the victims. The victims may choose to remain silent because it is easier for them to pretend the tragedy didn’t happen rather than deal with it. In Elie Wiesel’s novel Night, ignorance is sometimes used to defer the unbearable realities of life.
Early in chapter one, Elie’s family didn’t pay much attention to the atrocities of war being reported on the radio. Instead, they kept a strong faith that they were invincible. Elie reports: “The London radio, which we listened to every evening, gave us heartening news: the daily bombardment of Germany, Stalingrad; preparation for the second front. And we, the Jews of Sighet, were waiting for better days, which would not be long in coming.. . .People said: ‘The Russian army’s making gigantic strides forward . . Hitler won’t be able to do us any harm, even if he wants to.’” (Wiesel 5-6). Elie provides another example of their unfailing optimism. “The Budapest radio announced that the Fascist party had come into power. Horthy [leader of Hungary] had been forced to ask one of the leader of the Nyila’s party to form a new government. Still this was not enough to worry us. . . . Berovitz . . . returned from the capital , . . . ‘The Jews in Budapest are living in an atmosphere of fear and terror.’ The news spread like wildfire through Sighet. . . .But not for long. Optimism soon revived.” (Wiesel 7-8) In these scenes, the people of Sighet chose to remain ignorant, so they didn’t have to deal with what was really happening and what was coming their way. The people of Sighet not only ignored the radio broadcast, they ignored the facts right in front of their faces.
One of Sighet’s most loved teachers was taken away, but soon returned with horrific tales of mistreatment and death. Elie’s family and community ignored the story told by Moche of the
atrocities inflicted by the German forces. Elie states: “Moche had changed. There was no longer any joy in his eyes. He no longer sang. He no longer talked to me of God or the cabbala, but only of what he had seen. People refused not only to believe his stories, but even to listen to them. ‘He’s just trying to make us pity him. What an imagination he has!’ they said. Or even: ‘Poor fellow. He’s gone mad.’. . . I didn’t believe him myself.” (Wiesel 4-5). In this scene, the friends of Moche seemed almost afraid to believe him because that would mean that they would have to do something, anything, and it was so much easier for them to go on with life and pretend that the horrors would not come to their town.
The people of Sighet tried to ignore the realities of war for as long as they possibly could, yet when they did awaken, it was too late.
By the time they awakened, they were already imprisoned in a concentration; however, they did not stop being ignorant. So, they focused on which of the concentration camps were the best and which units within their camp were best. Elie reports: “That evening, the labor units came back from the work yards. Roll call. We began to look for familiar faces, to seek information, to question the veteran prisoners about which labor unit was the best, which block one should try to get into. The prisoners all agreed saying, ‘Buna’s a very good camp. You can stand it. The important thing is not to get transferred to the building unit.’ . . . We followed our kapo, . . .This was the orchestra block. . . . ‘You’re lucky, son,’ smiled Hans. ‘You’ve landed in a good unit. . .’” (Wiesel 47). Elie also described how the prisoners tried to extend optimism. “Freed from the hands of the barbers, we began to wander in the crowd, meeting friends and acquaintances. These meetings filled us with joy—yes, joy—’thank God! You’re still alive.’” (Wiesel 33). In addition, Elie describes how grateful they were for small tokens of optimism. He says: “A few days more and we should all have started to scream too. But we had reached a station. . . . The train did not start up again. The afternoon passed slowly. Then the wagon doors slid open. Two men were allowed to get down to fetch water. When they came back, they told us that, in exchange for a gold watch, they had discovered that this was the last stop. We would be getting out of here. There was a labor camp. Conditions were good. Families would not be split up. Only the young people would go to work in the factories. The old men and the invalids would be kept occupied in the fields. The barometer of confidence soared. . . . We gave thanks to God.” (Wiesel 24).
All these scenes illustrate how the prisoners remained optimistic about their futures, and how they saw that there were ways to survive even if that meant ignoring the realities of war and searching for anyway to survive. The concentration camp prisoners tried to ignore the realities of war for as long as they possibly could, even extending that optimism to their treatments within the prisons.
Not only did the prisoners try to remain ignorant of their plight, they deliberately ignored the atrocities that were inflicted on them in order to survive. In one situation, Elie chose to ignore his father as he was being beaten, so he didn’t have to deal with the pain of seeing his father broken. Elie says, “My father was suddenly seized with colic. He got up and went toward the gypsy, asking politely, in German: ‘Excuse me, can you tell me where the lavatories are?’ The gypsy looked him up and down slowly, from head to foot. As if he wanted to convince himself that this man addressing him was really a creature of flesh and bone, a living being with a body and a belly. Then, as if he had suddenly woken up from a heavy doze, he dealt my father such a clout that he fell to the ground, crawling back to his place on all fours. I did not move. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, before my very eyes, and I had not flickered an eyelid. I looked on and said nothing.” That evening, landed in a good unit. . .’” (Wiesel 33). In this scene, Elie deliberately chooses to ignore the fact that his father has been beaten in order to handle the situation. I think he is in denial in order to protect himself from his anger that, if released, would only cause more problems especially in a concentration camp.
In many situations, the prisoners of the concentration camps used ignorance to protect themselves from the harsh realities of war. Ignorance was obviously used by many victims of the Holocaust. Not only did they use it to maintain their hope, they also used it to protect themselves from the harsh realities of war. In today’s world, people use ignorance for many other reasons. Some choose to ignore the corruption in politics. Some choose to ignore the harassment of friends. Some choose to ignore the abuse of children. Even though for some, “Ignorance was bliss.” There is no justifiable reason to ignore those who need our help.