The Perils of Indifference

“He was finally free, but there was no joy in his heart. He thought there never would be again.”

Wiesel describes his own experience in third person, telling his story as if it belongs to someone else. The “he” is Wiesel, a young boy who has just been liberated from a Nazi death camp. The trauma Wiesel experienced is representative of the toll war takes on children. In making the narrative less personal, Weisel tells a story that may have belonged to any child, while also identifying his own emotional separation from the person he used to be during the traumatic events of the war.

“Though he did not understand their language, their eyes told him what he needed to know—that they, too, would remember, and bear witness.”

Wiesel writes here of the American troops’ shock and rage upon seeing the death camp. Though during this time, the boy—who is Wiesel—feels he may never know joy again, he is able to experience gratitude when having his suffering acknowledged. The soldiers’ response is also a reflection of Wiesel’s own duty to serve as a witness to the horrors he saw.

“‘Gratitude’ is a word that I cherish. Gratitude is what defines the humanity of the human being.”

Wiesel marks his memory of liberation with gratitude to the United States. This emotion, in contrast to the void of indifference, manifests The Interconnectedness of Humanity. While indifference severs connection, gratitude restores and fosters it.