Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Book Reports Existentialism in Night Existentialism in Night In his essay “Existentialism”, Jean Paul Sartre discusses the main beliefs of existentialism. Perhaps the most important belief of existentialism is that there is no human nature, and there is no God. This means that each individual man has control of his own destiny. The definition of each individual man is the sum of his life and all he has accomplished in his life. He is also responsible for all the choices and actions he makes in his life. These types of choices and actions can be seen in the book “Night” by Elie Wiesel. This book is a story about a boy, Wiesel, who is taken to a concentration camp with his family. It follows him and his father through their trials and movement from Auschwitz to Burkenau, and to Buna and how they continue to narrowly escape death. By the end of the story, readers see how Wiesel has become indifferent to the horrors of the camps. From the beginning to this point in the book, Wiesel and other characters make decisions that Sartre would call existentialist. Wiesel himself makes the first of these decisions. When Wiesel is a young boy in Sighet, he decides he wants to study the Zohar, the cabbalistic books. He would go to the synagogue ad weep while he prayed. His parents said that he should be in school. Wiesel said of his father, “He wanted to drive the notion out of my head. But it was in vain. I found a master for myself,” (2). His father wanted him to stop with his wishes to be educated in the cabbala, but this did not stop Wiesel. As the quote says, he found himself a master to help him with his studies. The poor man Moshe the Beadle helps him; they would sit for hours and talk. Sartre would call this existentialism. Wiesel took control of his own destiny and future, despite his father’s wishes. He doesn’t let his father’s efforts discourage him. He begins to learn the cabbala, which is an existentialist decision since the main idea of existentialism is creating your own self. Another example of an existentialist decision occurs in the concentration camp of Buna, when a young boy is to be hanged with two adults. Many of the Oberkapos had little boys that they liked and had hang around for sexual purposes. Someone at the camp was suspected of blowing up the electric station, and eventually they found it to be the Dutch Oberkapo, and he was arrested. This Oberkapo had a little boy (not his son), and he would not say whether or not the man had done it, so they decided to hang him. Many of the men are thoroughly disturbed by the fact that the boy being hanged was so young. Many of the young boys grew meaner than some adults, but “the Dutchman’s little servant was loved by all. He had the face of a sad angel” (60). The Lagerkapo who is supposed to do the hanging refuses, and SS officers have to step in and perform the execution. This Lagerkapo shows an existentialist decision because he takes control of his own life. He does not want his life to include the hanging of a small boy. Remember, according to Sartre, a man’s life includes all his decisions and actions. This man has undoubtedly performed other executions, but refuses this one. He doesn’t want the responsibility of this death to weigh on his conscience, so he refuses to do it. He was most likely reprimanded for his actions, but he is accepting the punishment. He chooses to accept the punishment over the guilt of hanging a little boy. Another important existentialistic choice is when Wiesel and his father decide not to stay in the camp, but rather to leave with the rest of the men. Wiesel is in the hospital after having surgery on his foot, and he hears of the evacuation of the camp. He rushes out to find his father immediately. The people in the hospital were meant to stay there. Wiesel knows he can get his father into the hospital either as a patient or a nurse. He and his father converse and they decide to go to the next place with the rest of the camp. They only have partial knowledge of what is going on. They know they can either stay or go. Whichever they choose, there is the danger of death, but also the hope of freedom. This choice is existentialist first of all because they make a choice and therefore are controlling their destiny. If they decide to stay, they are sitting ducks for whatever is to come, good or bad. They choose to go with everyone else because of the fear of being killed if they remain in the hospital. This is existentialist because they accept the responsibility of their actions by marching to the next place. They choose to give themselves a fighting chance to live rather than sit there and say they have no control over their destiny and wait for it to come to them. There are many existentialistic decisions made in this story. Wiesel chooses to learn the cabbala despite his father’s wishes. The Lagerkapo refuses to hang a little boy because of the guilt and his own personal beliefs. Then, Wiesel and his father choose to leave the camp instead of staying to see what happens. This book shows the view of existentialism through choices. Existentialism says that humans always have a choice, they may be two difficult choices, or two easy choices, but humans always have a choice. Even if you are a slave, you can choose to work or not work. The catch is that you have to face the consequences and take responsibility for your own choices and actions. Bibliography: Bibliography Sartre, Jean Paul. “Existentialism”. trans. Bernard Frechtman. Existentialism and Human Emotions. New York: Philosophical Library, 1957 Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Bantam Books, 1982 Word Count: 970
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