LIDIA VAZQUEZ
The Living/Literal Hell
By Lidia Vasquez
“The path through paradise begins in hell “-Dante Alighieri. Since the beginning of humankind, there has always been power, injustice , pain, agony, torment, misery, oppression, and torture. People have tried to overcome these dilemmas with battles and war, trying to protect the fragile, weak and vulnerable population. Aligned with this is justice, demanding that the criminal must be condemned. Literature and art are two mediums that can express these emotions. Literature can project misfortunes in a way, being able to demonstrate a different point of view to the readers. The novel Inferno illustrates the different stages of hell by describing in great detail every punishment sinners receive. On the other hand, the novel Night narrates the story of a person who suffered in a living hell, the Holocaust, the historical event where millions of innocent Jews were murdered. Both of these stories describe different means of human torture and torment, as well as how there are always people who will guide you and help you in hard times. The greatest distinction between both novels is the way they portray spirituality.
In both Night as well as Inferno, Elie Wiesel and Dante travel through a journey where they are forced to endure and observe human beings being tormented, tortured, abused, and oppressed. To illustrate the similarities, in Inferno when Dante journeyed through the 8th circle in the 1st pouch, the panderers and seducers receive lashings from whips for eternity. In a like manner, Elie Wiesel explained in Night on pages “56-57” When he caught Idek having an affair with a young lady, he laughed and was sentenced to 25 lashes on the back. Another example, is when Dante described in Inferno on the 8th circle in the second pouch, that flatterers must lay on human feces for eternity. This is similar to Night when Elie Wiesel on page “ 92-93” explains, “After the march everyone just fell to the ground. There were people laying being crushed by dead or hardly alive corpses”. Another section that stood out is the resemblance between the 6th pouch in the 8th circle in Inferno and pages “86-87”, in Night . These two parts are similar because “ Inferno, Dante mentions that he saw Caiaphas, the priest, who confirmed Jesus death was sentenced to lie crucified on the ground while sinners stepped and crushed him for eternity. In Night, Elie Wiesel states as well that his friend Zalman a young boy from Poland, was marching next to him,but, he had an extremely excruciating stomach ache and couldn't go on. Elie Wiesel tried to motivate him to go on, but it was too late. He fell back and probably died in frustration being crushed by millions of people marching for their own lives. While these novels share similarities, they also have differences.
Dante as well as Elie Wiesel go through spirituality changes throughout the distinct novels. For instance, in the novel Night, Elie Wiesel As he was in those vile circumstances in the concentration camps, began to lose his faith and came to a point where he was angry with God and would refuse to pray as a form of rebellion towards his religion. Before he arrived at the concentration camp, he was a really religious man. Although surviving through the Holocaust and being shown all those injustices, he began to doubt if there was even a God. If there was, why was he and all those innocent people being punished? In Inferno because of the conditions Dante was in, his belief towards God expanded. After all he was in hell, summing up the whole divine comedy by dante it basically represents dante's journey to find god in his life. Dante and Elie Wiesel were both in similar but distinct in some ways, conditions. For both of them their spirituality did indeed change by the same similar cause, yet Dante’s spirituality grew and by the terrid circumstances he sought god in his journey and Elie Wiesel lost god. Why is this so?
Throughout everyone's life, there has probably been a point where you're in a difficult situation, and there is someone there, with a helping hand - an unexpected friend,or a guardian angel. Both of these two novels there was people that helped, guided, and advised Elie and Dante. This demonstrates that even in hell, there will be people or things that help you. A great demonstration of this is in Night in chapter 5, Elie’s right foot was swollen and infected.It was necessary for him to have surgery. His doctor was polite and would provide Elie with water and food and made him an offer to get his father to act like a doctor for them both to stay when the camps had to “evacuate”. Yet, Elie denied the offer. He later found out that all the prisoners that stayed in the hospital were saved. In Inferno there were a lot of examples, when Dante Guide the poet that was sent by a star, is constantly helping Dante.
Inferno and Night have a lot of similarities, as well as differences. After all, for both Dante and Elie Wiesel, “The path through paradise begins in hell”-Dante alighieri this quote speaks really powerfully about Elie Wiesel, because, even though he probably hasn't gotten over such a horrid thing as the Holocaust, he moved on and educated himself and earned a Nobel Peace Prize . He wrote many novels and touched many lives with his descriptive narratives. This quote was said by Dante, but speaks truth for both Elie Wiesel and Dante.