Wiesel's account of Elie's struggle to survive frequently reveals how desensitized the prisoners become. Consider three occasions when this occurs and discuss how this detachment seems to be necessary for survival

 Certainly the hanging of the young boy Pipel was something Elie needed to detach from if one was to retain his sanity and survive. The constant stench of burning flesh was also something Elie had to desensitize to. The piles of bodies regularly pushed into ditches had to become the scenery that Elie expected.