Thesis For Night By Elie Wiesel

Refusal to Sanctify Imagine witnessing the deaths of thousands. Imagine the flames that lick the charred, black sky. Imagine the faces, faces stripped of their past and future. Most of all, imagine being saved from such a scorching fate, only to work as a slave in a chilling environment. After going through all these atrocities, fingers are bound to be pointed—but towards whom? In Night, by Elie Wiesel, his faith is tested the moment the Germans came knocking on their doors: He went from being a faithful boy who sought God’s teachings to an empty shell who held God accountable. Elie’s life before the camps revolved around his search for God’s answers. His father, however, did not approve of his fervent yen to delve
After entering Birkenau, Elie is faced with possibility of death. While walking up to the crematoria, he is shook with the fact that human beings were being burned alive. As his father began to recite Kaddish for himself, Elie felt rage for the first time—his rage was directed towards God. Elie was angered by God’s refusal to intervene, angered by God’s choice to be silent. He could not see a reason as to why he should sanctify His name when there was nothing to thank Him for but the death of thousands. Elie was stripped of any protection and forced into the cruelty of the age. His view of God was changed as God was no longer perfect in his eyes. Regardless of his rage, Elie began to recite Kaddish for himself a mere few steps away from imminent death, as opposed to disregarding all aspects of the Kabbalistic works. This is a reflection of his former self, as Elie has not yet banished all of his religious
Elie, on the other hand, acknowledged the existence of his God. When the young pipel was being hung, there were outcries from amongst the prisoners, demanding to know God’s whereabouts. Elie replied, saying that God was hanging from the gallows in front of them: he was comparing God to the dying pipel. The comparison could be that God is helpless and nothing could be done to put an end to their misery. Elie is denying God’s immortality: God Himself is vulnerable, so how could He help them when He Himself was defeated? Elie’s detachment from the views he once had of a perfect and Almighty God is accentuated through this analogy. To him, God was once his source of hope, and that night his hope was once again murdered. Elie’s hostility towards his God is shown once again when Rosh Hashanah came around, as the Jews solemnly gathered together in an effort to proclaim their faith. He angrily questioned God as they began to pray:
“What are You, my God? How do You compare this stricken mass gathered to affirm to You their faith...What does Your grandeur mean...in the face of all this cowardice, this decay, and this misery? Why do you go on troubling these poor people’s wounded minds, their ailing bodies?” (Wiesel