Compare And Contrast Primo Levi And Elie Wiesel

Holocaust literature is one of the emerging fields in literature during the second half of the twentieth century. Several Holocaust survivors wrote about the atrocities they witnessed during their incarceration. The word “Holocaust” encompasses images of death, horror, and inhumanity. Although many survivors find it difficult to talk about their experience, some of them sworn to protest against such horrible genocide and to enlighten people so it does not happen again. Primo Levi (1919-1987) and Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) were among those writers who made a significant contribution to the modern Jewish literature in general and to the Holocaust in particular. Primo Levi is best known for his grandeur memoir, Survival in Auschwitz. It is a brilliant …show more content…
Both authors, however, had one message in common; to educate and enlighten people about the Holocaust. In Survival of Auschwitz, Levi was a man of reason and science who only believed in the material world. He greatly suffered at Auschwitz that caused him later severe depression as the police report concluded that his death was a suicide (Wood). Wiesel, on the other hand, was a spiritual man who constantly brings Jewish faith and tradition to the eyes of the readers. For example, when Eliezer sees Rabbi Eliahu searches for his son who chose to escape the horror and leave his father behind. At this desperate moment, Eliezer still prays to God, although he lost faith in Him. Eliezer does not want to do what the Rabbi’s son did to his …show more content…
Levi hears about it and lives in constant fear of the selection. However, since Levi is a scientist, he witnessed a rather horrible experience when he describes Auschwitz as a “gigantic biological and social experiment” (Levi 87). Thus, he uses this to his advantage as a scientist and tries to discover ways for his benefit to survive. Levi’s optimism is seen more rational and mature than Eliezer’s blind optimism. However, the unjustified guilt that Levi felt lead him eventually to commit suicide. He reflects his guilt in the preface of the book. He felt that he could have done something to save the victims. He somewhat felt guilty to have survived. He was a prisoner at the camp and had no power to change the fate of the victims (Wood). It was an unjustified burden.
Both books provide powerful views of the vicious world of Auschwitz. The authors use their experience to document what they witnessed at the camp. Yet the full story of the Holocaust cannot be reduced into a few words. The memories of the survivors are shattered by the horror they lived through during their incarceration. I hope by doing an in-depth study of both books I will reveal insightful analysis about their writings as Holocaust survivors. These two books serve as a bearing witness for the Nazis atrocities that haunt the survivors’