"Night"

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at how Freud's "Civilization and its Discontents" offers unique insights into the psychoanalytic workings of the human mind which may help to explain how many of the atrocities which face the characters in Elie Wiesel's "Night" could be rationalized by these characters' oppressors. The essay also focuses on analyzing Eliezer's relationship with his friends and ailing father throughout the novel as well as looking at events of the Holocaust as a whole.

From the Paper:

"This statement, written by Freud years before the Nazi party began separating Jews and other undesirables from their community, describes one of the most important aspects of Human nature that allowed the Nazi movement to be so effective and appealing to those involved. Aggression is one of man's most natural instincts that must be fulfilled if Humans are to stay in an emotionally balanced state. Civilization however, impedes upon this urge toward hostility. The Nazis understood this, and in turn realized the necessity of clearly identifying a separate faction for the Aryans to project their anger and enmity toward without being shunned by society. The trick in this becomes identifying this separate party of outcasts and displaying them such that the population will accept them as the others. The first step in this process is presenting the ideas to the public as to why these people ought to be their antagonists. Hitler's oratory skills seemed to have a knack for accomplishing this. As in Sighet, another primary step was forcing these pariahs to wear arm bands, visually separating them from the insiders. Now, not only are the ideas implanted within the Aryans but they are also able to see each and every person who they are encouraged to direct their aggression toward. In doing this, the Nazis have tailored society to aid the id in that the superego is now believing that this aggression is acceptable and the ego is free act on it without opposition. The hostility immediately began to flow and the entire process began to progress."

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