What does the effect of death have on a child? (Night Book)

When the prisoners arriveat the camp in Chapter Three, they are made to think that they are all going to die in the fiery ditch, and they are periodically beaten and abused by the SS guards. Then their individual identities are completely erased when they are shaved, doused in petrol, and given identical, ill-fitting clothing. They are denied any sort of personality whatsoever, and the only way to deal with the constant abuse is to shut down all human emotions: "Our senses were blunted; everything was blurred as in a fog. It was no longer possible to grasp anything. The instincts of self-preservation, of self-defense, of pride, had deserted usŠ.Within a few seconds, we had ceased to be men." Treated as animals, the prisoners know that the Nazis will have no qualms at destroying them. For this reason, it makes logical sense to obey the Nazis' commands.

In this section Wiesel continues to develop the symbolic meaning of the title Night. After describing the fiery ditch and the truck full of children consumed in flames, Wiesel writes: "Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little face of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky." Upon arriving at Auschwitz, Eliezer enters into a world of eternal nightmares and hellish visions. Both day and night are filled with horrors and evil, and night itself is no longer restful, but instead representative of the continual, creeping Nazi menace. Even after leaving the concentration camps, Wiesel is haunted by the nightmarish visions he saw at Auschwitz, and even day seems threatening and dark.