Comparison of Two Memoirs “Night” and “Life Is Beautiful”

Do you believe these two stories are similar or do you think that they can’t be compared? Even though these two stories may seem very different, one being fictional and the other a true story. I believe they are similar and can be compared. Night and Life is Beautiful are similar even though many different events and feelings occurred between the two, at the core, I believe they share a similar theme.

First let’s begin with Night, in Night the story starts in Sighet. Sighet being the place in which Elie, the author, and narrator of the memoir lived. Then for a while, we get a setting in Jewish ghetto (still in Sighet), to a cattle car, then concentration camps—first, Birkenau, then Auschwitz, then Buna, and last Buchenwald. Each having there own horrid and sad memories to tell, that will make you want to cry just hearing them. Next, we have the characters, in Night we have many characters that impact the story in one way or another.

First, we have Eliezer, the author, and narrator of the memoir. We then have his family, his father Shlomo, who was with Eliezer throughout most of the memoir. His mother and three sisters, they follow through until they are separated near the beginning of the memoir. Then we move onto the events that happened in the story, in the beginning, everything seemed to be normal until one day when Moshe the Beadle had come back to Sighet to warn everyone about what he saw when he was deported. Though no one believed him, soon after German arrested Jewish leaders and the Jewish people weren’t allowed to leave their homes for three days.

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Then the Hungarian police began bursting into people’s homes and taking away anything that had value. The Jewish people were then made to wear yellow stars and could no longer go to restaurants, travel on the railway, go to the synagogue and go out past six. Soon they were moved to ghettos, they lived there awhile until the ghettos were to be wiped out. They were then moved to a cattle cart where they were separated and soon the nightmarish events through Birkenau, Auschwitz, Buna, Buchenwald began. Near the end on April 10, 1945, the resistance attacked the SS soldiers and took over Buchenwald, and around six o’clock the first American tank arrived at Buchenwald. They were free.

Lastly, we have the theme or themes of Night, one of the themes is Faith in God, where Elie questioned so many times if God was real, after everything he lived through. The importance of Father-Son bonds, throughout the story it shows how these father-son bonds are broken in horrid fashions by many because of the life they were living. Even Elie feels the same at times like he somehow sacrificed his father for his own safety. Those are some of the attributes of Night, now it’s time to move onto our next topic, Life is Beautiful. Secondly, as we now move onto Life is Beautiful, let's start with the settings of the story.

In the beginning the story takes place Arezzo, Tuscany, where the main character Guido moves to open a bookstore. Halfway through the movies Guido and his family are taken away to a concentration camp. Next, we have the characters, mostly the characters that are most relevant throughout the story. We have the main character Guido who is a Jewish-Italian bookstore owner, that is very comedic. Then we have his wife Dora, she is a sweet woman that insisted she go to the concentration camp as well even though she was not Jewish, just so she could be with her family. Next, we have their son Giosue, who is a playful boy, that dislikes taking showers. Then Eliseo, Guido’s uncle, that helps Guido when he moved to Arezzo, but when they are taken to the concentration camp, he is gassed.

Last we have Doctor Lessing, he was Guido’s friend and a lover of riddles, he then becomes a doctor at the concentration camp but doesn’t help Guido and his family escape. Then we have the events of the story, the story begins with showing Guido when he is first coming to Arezzo, he soon than meets Dora, and falls for her. We are then taken through Guido’s life as he tries to open his bookstore and constantly try to impress Dora. Than at Dora’s engagement party, Guido gets the plan to take Dora away and he does, on a horse.

We then get a time skip were we see Guido now married to Dora and they have a son. Soon after we see that they are going to celebrate Giosue’s birthday, when Dora goes to pick up her mother, Guido, his uncle, and his son are taken away, to go to a concentration camp. Dora becomes upset and goes after them and she insists that she too should be placed on the train. Soon they are taken to the concentration camp, where the men and women are separated. We are then taken to see a scene where Guido tries to make everything seem like a game to protect his son from the truth. Soon after all the elders and children we called to take a “shower”, this is when Eliseo sadly dies, but Giosue escapes because he dislikes taking showers.

Through everything we are taken to the next few scenes were Guido really tries to make everything seem like a game to his soon, say that they’ll win a tank to shield his son from the horrid reality of their situation. So we are taken to a scene where it appears that the resistance is coming near, so Guido hides away his son and tells him to not leave until there is no one left at the camp. Guido than tries to look for his wife, but to no avail, he is then caught and killed. So after the camp is evacuated by the soldiers, the prisoners began to leave.

Once Giosue sees there is no one left he leaves from his hiding place and soon after an American tank rolls in and they take Giosue. Not long after Giosue sees his mother and they are reunited and free. Now the theme of the story, the theme of Life is Beautiful. One of the themes is love, that all you need in life is love, and he shows this not only through the story of love through Dora. But, the love that he has for his son, as he tries so hard to keep the harsh reality away from him. This could also be considered a father-son bond. Lastly is perseverance, we are shown this by how he never gave up on Dora and the way that he protects his son.

Now let’s get into how both these stories are similar. Lastly, we’ll now see the similarities between these two stories, even though they seem very different. The two stories take place in very different places it’s where both of the main characters lived a normal life for a few years before they were taken away. They are both sent to the concentration camp and separated from the women. In Night though Eliezer never sees his mother or sisters again, he his with his father throughout most of the book and always tries to be with him.

The same with Guido and Giosue in Life is Beautiful, though Giosue was a small child and had to be hidden away, it also focused a lot on their father and son story. The events are very different from each other as one is a true story and the other fictional, one event is similar. Even though both fathers died a different way, they died near the end of the story in very sad ways. Now the theme of the story which is Father-Son bonds, even though each experience in the story is very different they both show a father-son bond.

In Night Eliezer always tried to be with his father, though at times he would get mad, or even have horrible thoughts that he soon felt guilty about, especially at the end. In Life is Beautiful, Guido tries to do everything he can to protect his son. His son is a child and wanting to win the game listened to his father.

Therefore you have now seen my reasons as to why these stories are similar, Night and Life is Beautiful, are very different, but they do share some similarities, and as I said, at the core, they did share a similar theme. May it be through different experiences, they did end up sharing a similar theme. That theme was the theme of Father-Son bonds. They also shared other similarities throughout the story, so even though two things may seem very different, at the core they can be similar.

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