Seven Times Cursed and Seven Times Sealed - Anaysis of Night
“Seven Times Cursed and Seven Times Sealed”
Wistfully, thinking that they were to be brought to safety and to start a new life away from the battlefields, or so they hoped. These people could have never imagined what was to happen to them after being evacuated. It was the beginning of a new life, indeed, although it was not as anywhere near as expected or envisioned. Among these individuals so callously herded away were Eliezer Wiesel and his family. Ultimately, after viewing one horrific event after the other though, this young boy experiences an overwhelming, indescribable chain of savageness caused by the heartless people of the Nazis. Stripped away from everything known to him, Elie gradually discovers the depths of his loss of faith, innocence, and the will to survive.
Faith. It is belief in a God based without any tangible proof. Elie’s struggle with maintaining his faith is a dominant conflict in Night. In the beginning, his faith in God is absolute. When asked why he prays to God, he answers, “Why did I pray? . . . Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” (4). His belief in an omnipotent, benevolent God is unconditional, and he cannot imagine living without faith in a divine power. However, this faith is tested by his experience during the Holocaust. Initially, Eliezer’s faith is a product of his studies in Jewish cabbalism, which teach him that God is everywhere in the world, that nothing exists without God, that in fact everything in the physical world is a reflection, of God’s holiness and power; the world must therefore be good. Eliezer’s faith in the goodness of the world is irreparably undermined, however, by the cruelty and evil he witnesses. “Babies! Yes, I did see this, with my own eyes...children thrown into the flames” (32). He cannot imagine that the concentration camps’ unbelievable, disgusting torture could possibly reflect divinity. Elie wonders how a benevolent God could be part of such depravity, and how such an almighty God could permit such
Wistfully, thinking that they were to be brought to safety and to start a new life away from the battlefields, or so they hoped. These people could have never imagined what was to happen to them after being evacuated. It was the beginning of a new life, indeed, although it was not as anywhere near as expected or envisioned. Among these individuals so callously herded away were Eliezer Wiesel and his family. Ultimately, after viewing one horrific event after the other though, this young boy experiences an overwhelming, indescribable chain of savageness caused by the heartless people of the Nazis. Stripped away from everything known to him, Elie gradually discovers the depths of his loss of faith, innocence, and the will to survive.
Faith. It is belief in a God based without any tangible proof. Elie’s struggle with maintaining his faith is a dominant conflict in Night. In the beginning, his faith in God is absolute. When asked why he prays to God, he answers, “Why did I pray? . . . Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” (4). His belief in an omnipotent, benevolent God is unconditional, and he cannot imagine living without faith in a divine power. However, this faith is tested by his experience during the Holocaust. Initially, Eliezer’s faith is a product of his studies in Jewish cabbalism, which teach him that God is everywhere in the world, that nothing exists without God, that in fact everything in the physical world is a reflection, of God’s holiness and power; the world must therefore be good. Eliezer’s faith in the goodness of the world is irreparably undermined, however, by the cruelty and evil he witnesses. “Babies! Yes, I did see this, with my own eyes...children thrown into the flames” (32). He cannot imagine that the concentration camps’ unbelievable, disgusting torture could possibly reflect divinity. Elie wonders how a benevolent God could be part of such depravity, and how such an almighty God could permit such
Cited: Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 2006. Print.