Bearing Witness to Darkness: Resilience as a Path to Peace in Elie Wiesel’s Writings

Abstract

Holocaust was an event that transformed the lives of Jews. Those who survived this catastrophe came back with a shattered psyche. It was very difficult for them to forget their dead ones and move on with their lives. Even after their irreplaceable loss, the survivors tried to fill the vacuum created by the traumatic event by reassembling their lives. Survivors presented a finest example of indefatigable human spirit that kept on struggling even after the de- humanizing and terrible conditions. Wiesel has also presented the same in his novels. Elie Wiesel was a Holocaust survivor and Jewish American Novelist who won Nobel Peace prize in 1986. The theme of “Resilience and Survival” is explored through- out his writings. This study aims to underscore the resilience of survivors by employing the theories proposed by Cathy Caruth and Dori Laub regarding the aftermath of trauma. A textual analysis of Elie Wiesel's writings has been undertaken to examine how trauma modifies the course of life. How can those who have been through trauma get their spirit of resilience back? What do people need to move forward in their lives, and how do Elie Wiesel's novels show this?