“Don’t forget that you’re in a concentration camp. Here, every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else.” (Wiesel 105)
No institution demonstrates human nature more clearly than war. War allows man to both return to his primitive, more animal-like tendencies and allows him to fight for a cause he thinks honorable. J. Glenn Gray in The Warriors explains that in this way, “war reveals dimensions of human nature both above and below the acceptable standards for humanity” (Gray 242). While society may frown upon a soldier’s brutal actions in war, it still glorifies the soldier’s willingness to die for his country. War forces its participants not only to determine what they are willing to die for but also the lengths to which they are willing to go for survival. In war, man is presented with the choice of fighting motivated by his own survival and interests or fighting as one with his comrades with their well-being in mind. In Night, Elie Wiesel struggles with whether he should focus all his efforts on his own survival or whether he should sacrifice his well being for that of his father, his only comrade. When deciding whether to fight for oneself or for one’s comrades there are three factors which play a significant role. The bond of comradeship, the natural tendency to preserve one’s life above all else, and the necessary sacrificing of others in order to protect oneself all greatly affect a man’s decision whether or not “to fight for himself and not think for anyone else” (Wiesel 105).
The stronger the bond of comradeship the more likely it is a man will fight as one with his fellow soldiers and not be motivated solely by his own interests. In Night, Elie and his fellow prisoners are told by a veteran concentration camp prisoner to “let there be comradeship among you” (38) and that “it is the only way to survive” (39). However, they do not take the advice. Only a few of the men find comradeship, and it is usually with a relative who they were fortunate enough to have not lost. The only sense of true comradeship, if it can be called such, Elie has is with his father. Elie’s only motivation to live becomes to not be separated from his father. When Elie thinks his father has frozen to death he decides there is “no more reason to live, no more reason to struggle” (93). Because Elie feels no comradeship with the rest of his fellow prisoners, he finds it more difficult to not want to fight solely for his own survival. What stops the prisoners in the concentration camp from forming a sense of comradeship is that they are each more concerned with their own survival than that of their fellow prisoners. J. Glenn Gray explains in The Warriors that “it is the absence of a common will, the failing assurance that others will act in concert with you against the conquerors” (Gray 42) which causes the absence of comradeship. The prisoners in the concentration camp cannot become comrades because they cannot trust that their fellow prisoners will defend one another when attacked by the Nazis. Just as Night shows that the absence of comradeship makes Elie’s decision more difficult, Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front demonstrates how the bonds of comradeship make Paul Baumer’s decision to dedicate himself to his comrades easier. Paul’s relationship with his fellow soldiers is so strong that when his closest comrades die he loses his will not only to fight but to live. Because Paul has such an intense relationship with his comrades, he instinctively fights for his comrades instead of himself. Though Elie’s love for his father is strong, he still finds it difficult to ignore his yearning to fight for his own survival.
The natural tendency to protect his own life greatly affects a soldier’s actions. One of Elie’s greatest fears is that he will succumb to this desire to protect himself, even if that means losing his father. At one point in the novel, Elie and the other prisoners are forced to run in the snow all night to another concentration camp. If anyone stops or begins to go to slow they are shot and killed. Elie sees Rabbi Eliahou’s son separate himself from his father and is horrified by the incident. He describes that he believes the boy “had felt that his father was growing weak, he had believed that the end was near and had sought this separation in order to get rid of the burden, to free himself from an encumbrance which could lessen his own chances of survival” (Wiesel 87). The reason Elie is able to describe the Rabbi’s son’s point of view so acurately is because he is familiar with that yearning to abandon responsibility to others, especially his father, and fight for his own survival. When a Nazi attacks Elie’s father, he becomes angry not at his father’s attacker but his father for not knowing how to avoid the man’s rage. Elie describes that “this is what concentration camp life had made of me” (52). Elie’s reaction is natural for anyone who is in as dangerous a situation as a concentration camp. It is human nature to want to protect one’s life above all else and to attack those who threaten it. This natural tendency makes Elie’s effort to not be consumed by selfish desires even more difficult. Henry Fleming in Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage is conflicted in the same way. While fighting on the front lines Henry discovers he cannot resist this natural inclination to protect himself and as a result abandons his regiment. Henry looks to nature for a justification of his seemingly cowardly actions. After he throws a pinecone at a squirrel and sees that the squirrel instantly runs away, he determines nature has “reinforced his argument with proofs that lived where the sun shone” (Crane 36). Though everyday life and nature demonstrate that it is human and animal instinct to want to preserve one’s life, this justification does not fully persuade one to that it is right.
In order for a man to fight for his own survival or even pursue his own interests, he must make grave sacrifices. These sacrifices again complicate his choice of whether or not to fight for himself. Elie sees how much other prisoners are willing to give up for their own survival on numerous occasions. In one incident, Elie sees a son kill his father for a small piece of bread and the murder of the son, Meir, by other men a few moments later. Elie realizes that familial ties are not always strong enough to trump that natural instinct to survive. He is especially scarred because Meir was not only willing to let his father die like Rabbi Eliahou’s son but was willing to commit the murder himself. Unlike Rabbi Eliahou’s son, Elie cannot explain Meir’s point of view because he is so horrified by his actions. Elie determines he is not willing to sacrifice his father’s life even if it means bettering his chances of survival. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet is so consumed by his desire to avenge his father’s death that he is willing to do anything to achieve this goal. Hamlet allows his long time friends Rosencratz and Guildenstern to be sent to England to be killed, he attacks his own mother, and kills his true love’s father. Though he does not seem to be greatly affected by these actions initially as he faces death, he realizes that pursuing his own goals was not worth the sacrifices he made. When he tells Horatio he “cannot live to hear the news from England” (V. ii 391), his regret of his actions is revealed. Ernest Hemingway believed that because there is no life after death the “code hero” avoids death as long as possible. In his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, the protagonist and code hero Robert Jordan is willing to avoid death even if it means losing a comrade. When his fellow guerilla soldier El Sordo’s camp is attacked, Robert Jordan refuses to aid him because he believes “it would be useless” (Hemingway 297) and that death will come to him soon enough. Robert Jordan so greatly values his own life that he is willing to sacrifice El Sordo and his camp if it means having more time on earth. The more dire a man’s circumstance, the more willing he will be to make greater sacrifices, even if that means losing the people he respects and loves. Because Elie’s circumstances are as desperate as one can get, it is even more difficult for him to stay loyal to his father.
Elie’s initial response to the above quotation is that it is good advice. However, he immediately feels ashamed of thinking this way and is overwhelmed by a sense of guilt. At the conclusion of the novel, Elie feels that he has failed his father in some way which is the possibly the reason he has written the novel. Just as many men before him and after him have felt, Elie Wiesel feels he must write his story as a form of penance. Though there are many different reasons why a soldier may feel ashamed after war, one which is common is because he began, or thinks he began, to value his own survival over the cause or the well-being of his comrades. Even at the end of For Whom the Bell Tolls, as Robert Jordan faces death he forces his comrades to leave him to die so that they may live. It is right and just to sacrifice oneself for others because without others life is insignificant. Just as John Donne explained in “Mediation 17” “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” Without fellow humans, humans are nothing. When the world begins to see the importance of others, even if they are believed to be the enemy, the world moves closer to peace.
