Hunger and Humanity - Elie Wiesel's Night

In Elie Wiesel's memoir, Night, he relives his time in the ghettos and concentration camps. A theme that is spread throughout the memoir is the fact that hunger and the need for food dehumanized himself and all of the Jews. Likewise, the same theme is present in other primary sources and also the movie The Pianist. It is incorporated through various literary and rhetorical devices. Through these different devices, the authors are able to reveal the horrid hunger that plagued the Jews and how it consumed any humanity that they still had.

First, the hunger the Jews experienced is demonstrated through literary devices, such as imagery. For example, in the movie The Pianist, while in the ghetto, Wladyslaw witnesses a man trying to steal a bag of food from an old lady. While they fight over it, the bag splits open and the food falls onto the street. The man then proceeds to eat the food off of the dirty ground, (The Pianist). This use of imagery acknowledges the scarceness of food and also the hunger that the Jews faced. First, the man attempts to steal food from an old, frail lady which exposes how desperate he was and the risks he was willing to take. In addition, this quote also dehumanizes the man. It makes him look like an animal because he is eating off of the ground just like any stray dog or other wild animal. However, this scene in the movie dehumanizes all of the Jews. The man in this scene represents everyone locked up in the ghettos and concentration camps, all of them without food and starving to death. Because of the lack of food and hunger they faced, they are willing to get it any way they can, and by doing so, they are portrayed as animals.

In addition to The Pianist, starvation is also present in Wiesel's memoir Night. Wiesel does an amazing job of taking the humanity away from the Jews through hunger. For instance, one example is after the dentist was thrown into prison, Elie talks to himself about what he is going to do with his gold tooth crown. He ponders about and says, "At that moment in time, all that mattered to me was my daily bowl of soup, my crust of stale breath. The bread, the soup-those were my entire life. I was nothing but a body. Perhaps even less: a famished stomach," (Wiesel, 52). The use of this metaphor, comparing himself to a body, or even just a stomach, creates a sense of loss in humanity. Food has consumed his humanity and taken over his body, all that he cares about now is eating his daily soup and bread. In addition, by comparing himself to a body and a stomach, he takes away the humanity in himself. He is no longer a human with free will or emotion, instead, he is a body taken over by his hunger and his need to eat.

Another way hunger dehumanizes the Jews in Night is by imagery. On page 101, Elie is on a wagon with a couple other of men. While they were on the wagon, a German worker threw some bread into the wagon. They men then started to fight each other over it. Wiesel writes, "In the wagon where the bread had landed, a battle has ensued. Men were hurling themselves against each other, trampling tearing at and mauling each other. Beasts of prey unleashed, animal hate in thier eyes," (Wiesel, 101). This use of imagery reveals how hunger affected them. It turned them into monsters, who would trample, tear at and maul each other over some food. It dehumanizes them into bloodthirsty creatures. Along