Fighting Battle With Death

                    Chapter one

“Hell isn't others. It's ourselves. Hell is the burning fever that makes you feel cold” 

Ellie Wiesel starts off his novel with a foreshadowing statement: "The accident occurred on an evening in july, right in the heart of new york, as Kathleen [his girlfriend] and I were crossing the street" (page 3). This is the mayor event though out the first chapter and I believe that it lasts for at least a few chapters. We can infer that Ellie Wiesel's life was changed by his experience during the holocaust as we read in night. Ellie, as kathleen states: was "slowly killing" himself but later one we see it was an advantage: "he's lucky. He'll suffer less because his stomach is empty. he wont vomit so much" (page 6). Then: the accident. " A speeding cab approaching from the left". The drama: "the doctors, after one glance at me, had decided there was no hope" (page 11), hospitals didn't receive him: "there wasn't any room. All the beds were taken" or, at least thats the excuse they gave cause, who wants to receive a dying man with no hope to live? ... No one. Finally, the miracle: "the doctor on duty .. immediately took care of me while trying to make a diagnosis" (page 11). Wiesel fought a battle with death, "all the bones on the left side of his body were broken; internal hemorrhage; brain concussion" (page 12). Ellie suffered wounds from the horrid battle, the pain grew bigger each day, it was "torturing" him, but he is told by the doctor: "suffering is not the enemy, the fever is. If it goes up you are lost". I find hard to understand Wiesel's attitude towards his life before and after the incident.

   "For me, love or death. I didn't care"