Moral Ambiguity In Night

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No traditional view of moral behavior can account for the Holocaust. Yet, the theories of Immanuel Kant, whose works form the basis of modern deontological ethics, can explain why victims were subject to different moral rules than typical people. He explains that there are two prerequisites to making moral decisions: autonomy and rationality (Shafer-Landau 170). During the Holocaust, the Nazis denied the Jews both. In stripping Jews of what makes solely humans morally responsible for their actions, and putting their moral worth in the same category as animals, the Nazis excluded them from the traditional moral community. In Night, Wiesel acknowledges that the dehumanization of the Holocaust pushed him, along with most, into Primo Levi’s “grey zone” of moral ambiguity and compromise.
Over the course of the novel, Wiesel describes a departure from …show more content…
As the novel progresses, and Wiesel loses his rationality and autonomy, his instinct of self-preservation displaces his morality. As a result, he begins to prioritize his own well being over that of others. Initially, he only does this passively, for instance trying to protect himself from blows “by hiding behind others” (40). Later on, he becomes a more active perpetrator of morally questionable behavior, “scratch[ing]” and ‘f[i]ght[ing]” for air and food (94, 106). While he never physically confronts his father, his passive behavior, “abandon[ing]” him during the air raid and leaving him in the cold, contributes to his death. Wiesel makes it clear that he believed that this crossed the line into a moral ‘grey zone’, lamenting that he “had not passed the test” of goodness (107). After his father's death, Wiesel’s situation deteriorates further, and he spends his days with “only one desire: to eat” (113). With his humanity extirpated, by the end of the novel Wiesel no longer has the capacity to moral

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