The Holocaust destroyed 11,000,000 people's lives. It’s hard to imagine people being killed just because of their religion. Men, women, the elderly, children; all Jewish families were separated. In his book “Night”, Elie Wiesel, who was separated from his mother and sister, describes his experiences and the inhumane conditions he endured at the concentration camps at the hand of German officers. As a result of his experiences during the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel changes from a religious, sensitive little boy to a spiritually dead, unemotional man.…
In the book Elie went through a rollercoaster in his faith. When Elie and his family were first taken, everyone prayed, hoping their God would protect them through the journey. When things started to get horrifying Elie and all of the prisoners started to question their God, asking why would God put them through something like this and asking where he was while they were being…
Elie clings to his father, and his father to him. Elie did not believe his surroundings, he could not bare to consider that idea that the Nazi’s were really slaughtering the Jews, until he saw live babies being thrown into fiery graves. That is when Elie realized that not everything is good, and that there are bad things in the world. During this time Elie’s father cried- this was the first time Elie had ever seen his father cry. Elie’s father begins to soften and break under the pressures of camps. Elie and his father are forced to work and get little to eat, and grow weaker and weaker by the days, however they still keep going. Elie saw and experienced many things each time he lost more and more faith until one day he saw a young boy on hung, and he said that God died with that young boy on the gallows that day. Elie was becoming colder as he experienced the harsh reality of concentration camps, and Elie’s father was becoming weaker and more dependent on Elie as he experience…
In the Night Elie Wiesel start losing his faith in concentration camp of Birkenau-Aushwitz. He witnessed that Nazis soldiers burn load of babies into fires. Everyone are standing and watching them burning babies until they turn into ashes. At this moment Elie questioning is God actually existing if he does then why evil is still around. At Buna concentration camp Elie loss his faith…
They had all been dehumanized to an extent that after being freed, they thought “...only of bread”(115). Elie’s family and religion had once been the most important things to him, but after everything Elie had experienced, all he cared about was his next meal and to survive. Elie’s faith was slowly destroyed throughout his experiences of the Holocaust.…
When we’re young and we have a toy or a play thing, we get angry if that thing is taken away from us; we throw a tantrum. This is because the toy retains our focus and interest, and then it’s just ripped away. Elie Wiesel was prematurely ripped from his world of family and faith, forced to the infamous concentration camp of Auschwitz to wither away along with the burned remains of his past and hopes. The drastic change from Wiesel’s rendition of his experiences during the Holocaust, Night, portrays many themes throughout the entirety of its pages, with one of the most prominent themes being Elie’s own faith and its vicissitude over time, of which is seen in the early years of his life where he was devout to his religion, to the train ride and arrival at Auschwitz where he begs God to help, ending in the death of his God as the children are hung, and the total rejection of a God altogether.…
Throughout Elie’s harsh experience, he loses faith in God. Specifically, Elie becomes quite angry and unthankful to God, for they are admitted into the camp. Elie feels that there was no reason to praise God’s name because the “terrible Master of the Universe”, chose to be silent. (p.66) At this point, Elie and his father realize that this horrible camp will unfortunately be their daily lives for an unknown amount of time.…
Before the camps Elie was very religious and has a strong connection to God. However, in the camps a prayer service with Kaddish being recited is held and Elie feels like a stranger in the group. Elie states,“I found myself to be stronger than this Almighty to whom my life had been bound for so long. In the midst of these men assembled for prayer, I felt like an observer, a stranger”(68). This quote uses great word choice and explains how Elie no longer has the faith he once had and now feels like an outsider in a place he would have normally felt like home. Elie also does not participate in a traditional event he normally would have called Yom Kippur. He does not fast during Yom Kippur like usual and says, “There was no longer any reason for me to fast. I no longer accepted God’s silence. As I swallowed my ration of soup, I turned that act into a symbol of rebellion, of protest against Him” (69). This expresses how Elie no longer is obeying God or following his beliefs. He is not participating in his religious events and his faith is not within…
In “Night” written by Elie Wiesel, Elie struggles with his faith. In the beginning of the book Elie’s faith is pure. When Elie was asked why he prays to god, he responded with, “Why did I pray?... Why did I live? Why did I breathe?”(Wiesel 4) Elie’s faith was unbreakable. His faith was so strong as a result of being in a Jewish family and being taught to pray and study Judaism daily. However his faith was put to the test during the Holocaust. Elie starts to doubt his faith by witnessing the amount of cruelty and evil while in the concentration camps. Elie wonders how a god could let such disgusting and cruel actions take place. He is also disgusted by the selfishness and cruelty he sees amongst his prisoners. Elie describes a scenario…
Elie W. began his journey full of spirit. He started dwindling in his faith for god throughout the days and months he was in the concentration camp. Elie went from the enthusiastic child praying every night always hoping for the best to being grown up and expecting the worst. Elie W. was a spiritual person. Elie lost his faith in god because of the horror he experienced in the holocaust.…
In fact, the protagonist ceases prayer and later refuses to take part in various religious practices. A person may claim that difficult experiences in life prove beneficial to one's faith in the long run. However, during those times faith may actually diminish and might even be permanently damaged. While Elie's faith does not completely die, he refrains from praising God and referencing him in any way. Furthermore, the main character displays a sort of defiance in his decision to withdraw from any expression of faith. Although the protagonist concludes that God does not deserve his recognition, Elie begins to feel lament for his disbelief. "As I swallowed my ration of soup, I turned that act into a symbol of rebellion, of protest against him... Deep inside me, I felt a great void opening" (Wiesel 69). As the remorse for abandoning God begins to sink in, Elie realizes that his Savior has a perfect plan for his life, and as a result his faith…
After a man advised him to stop helping his father, Elie thought, “Too late to save your old father… You could have two rations of bread, two rations of soup” (page 111). Although he feels guilty afterward, the consideration he gave the thought hints at a fall from humanity. Later, when Elie was liberated, the only thing on his mind was food. “From time to time I would dream. But only about soup, an extra ration of soup,” he explains (page 113). This food obsession shows that Elie went from a human with feelings and sympathy to becoming emotionally numb.…
At a time when one should be energetic, lively, and healthy, Wiesel became exhausted to the point he would compare himself to a “withered tree”. However, Wiesel was not the only one like this. Witnessing everyone else lose hope, as they became more exhausted with each day passing, made it difficult for him to not follow suit. In other words, a loss of faith in humanity and himself, led to his loss of innocence. In addition to his loss of faith in humanity and himself, he also lost faith in God. Irving Halperin, an English and creative writer, as well as, professor at San Francisco State University, wrote, “'Why should I bless His name?' This outcry is the sign of, as François Mauriac says in his foreword to the book, 'the death of God in the soul of a child who suddenly discovers absolute evil.' And this breakdown of religious faith calls forth Eliezer's resolve 'never to forget'” (Halperin 32). Halperin argues that due to his loss of faith in God, Wiesel lost his innocence. During his time in the concentration camps, Wiesel witnessed people praying to God, time and time again. However, God did not answer them; children, women, and men continued to die as each day…
However, it took a first hand experience for him to realize that the world is full of hate. As he hears about and experiences the Holocaust his faith starts to die. A good example of this is on the day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, thousands of men came to attend services. Thousands of voices repeated, "Blessed be the Name of the Eternal!" Eliezer thought, "Why, but why should I bless Him? Because he had thousands of children burned in his pits?... How could I say to Him: "Blessed art thou, Eternal, Master of the Universe, Who chose us from among the races to be tortured day and night? Praised be Thy Holy Name, Thou Who hast chosen us to be butchered on Thine altar?” This shows that through his journey, he has come to question why such a divine and pure God would let such cruelty be unleashed onto his people. His faith is equally shaken by the cruelty and selfishness he sees among the prisoners. He sees that the Holocaust exposes the self-interest, malicious, and cruelty of which everybody, the Nazis, his fellow prisoners, his fellow Jews, his brethren and even himself is capable of such sin. If the world is so horrible and cruel Elie feels God either must be horrible and cruel or must not exist at all. His feelings are shared within the Jewish community during that time. This is significant because for a religion to exist there has to be…
Towards the end of the story Elie has anger towards God. On the eve of Rosh Hashana after the meal was served everyone was waiting for a prayer before eating. Elie looked around and saw all the prisoners, he got angry with God. "But look at these men whom you've betrayed, allowing them to be tortured, slaughtered, gassed and burned, what do they do? They pray before you"(Weisel68). Elie is angry he blames god for not helping them. He blames God for all those people that were killed and…