What struck me most about the middle section of the book is the constant examples of inhumanity that can be found on almost every page. I constantly find myself cringing in disgust and horror as I read, but at the same time, I am not able to put the book down. I was disgusted with the dehumanization that takes place at the concentration camps. Wiesel didn’t even have a name anymore, he simply replied to the number assigned to him. When the black secretary says, “A-7713?” Elie replies, “That’s me.” (51) The Jewish people in the camps were striped of their identities which defines who they are. When Elie responds to the number “A-7713”, it is almost as if he is admitting defeat and giving up hope, which frustrates me. He has been strong for so long and for him to give up now is disheartening.
The Jewish people in the concentration camps were not only mentally abused by being dehumanized, but they were also physically beaten if they disobeyed. When Wiesel saw Idek with the young Polish girl, he was whipped twenty five times in front of everyone for what he saw. Although, not everyone receiving punishment was as fortunate as Wiesel, most of them were hanged. Even a young boy was hung along with two adults in the presence of all the other men. Unfortunately, the executioner did not take into account the weight difference the little boy had compared to other grown men, therefore, he suffered. Wiesel says, “He remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes. And we were forced to look at him at close range. He was still alive when I passed him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extinguished.” (65) I cannot believe that a young boy would be hung and forced to suffer. When a child is killed, it triggers feelings of anger, sadness, and disgust in whoever bears witness, it is horrifically tragic.
On top of all the torture and killing, physical pain was constantly inflicted on the prisoners. Whenever someone had a gold crown, it would be ripped from their mouths: “The dentist from Warsaw pulled my crown out with the help of a rusty spoon.” (56) Ouch! I cannot even imagine the pain someone would feel when having a tooth ripped from their mouth without novocaine or proper tools. Even nowadays these types of procedures are still painful with the aid of proper medication and equipment. The way the people in the concentration camps were treated cause me to cringe, and now I wonder what the breaking point for these men is. How far can they be pushed until they can no longer take anymore and either slip away into death, or bring death upon themselves?
Your first paragraph is nearly identical to one of the ideas I discussed in my response. When I was reading scenario after scenario of the people (yes, they are still people) being treated like faceless entities, all that was going through my mind was, don’t these people care anymore? To me, the fact that they were accepting their numerical names showed fading hope. I also wonder if Elie was losing hope more quickly than other prisoners. Several times, he begins questioning his faith (to God). It seems like most other prisoners are still maintaining the faith they have because, in all honesty, there isn’t much else for them. As I read more of your response I realized we talked about the same exact things. I think that speaks to the significance of the events chronicled in our responses. I think the most horrifying scene thus far has been the child hanging. In my opinion, there is nothing worse than death, except a prolonged death, and suffered by a child nonetheless. Human society claims to be far superior over nature, but when things like this happen, and just the whole Holocaust for that matter, it leads me to question whether we are as flawless as we claim to be. I would expect such savagery from a lion that needs to kill a zebra to survive but something like this from the “almighty humans” is completely unjustified.
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