Discussion Questions For Night By Elie Wiesel

Elie is traumatized by the horrors of the concentration camps and it changes his faith so that it becomes difficult to believe in God. When Elie witnesses what his tormentors do at the concentration

From the time where Elie had to decide to fight for his father’s life, to the time where he questioned his beliefs, Elie has had to make many life-changing decisions. As some of his decisions left negative consequences, some were left a positive outcome. In the end, all the decisions Elie had made in the camps has made his life miserable or at its best. For better or for worse, the events that Elie encountered makes his life unforgettable as realizes there was more to life than he had thought of

While Elie was in the concentration camp he changed the way he acted. This new behavior led him to develop new character traits. While Ellie was in the concentration camp he became angry at many things. For example “I would have dug my nails into the criminals flesh” (Wisel 39). Elie shows extreme anger when the Nazi officials are beating Elie’s father. Elie was angry because the Nazi soldiers were not treating them nicely and keeping them in poor conditions. Elie was usually not a person to display anger, but he shows this when his family members are being hurt. Elie wants to stand up for what is right and for his family members. Despite his studying, Elie wavered in his belief in Kabbalah while he was at the camp. Elie was a religious boy before he went to Auschwitz, but while in the camp, he became angry at God. In the book Elie says, “‘Where are You, my God?’” (66). Elie is wondering why God is not helping the Jews. Elie had complete faith in his religion until he experienced and witnessed such horrible suffering. He had been taught that God will punish evil and save the righteous. However, when Elie saw that God was not helping the Jews situation,

During the Holocaust, Eliezer Wiesel changes from a spiritual, sensitive, little boy to a spiritually dead, dispassionate man. In his memoir, Night, Elie speaks about his experiences upon being a survivor of the Holocaust. The reader sees how Elie has changed through his experiences in Sighet and the ghettos in comparison to what it was like for him in the concentration camps.

Page 34, “…Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.” From this one quote you can most certainly tell that Elie has been living through some extremely tough times in his life right now. You can also tell that just being a part of the concentration camp and knowing that if you don’t die there is a good chance that one of your family members or friends will, it will always be permanently engraved in Elies’ memories. And this has definitely had a huge impact on his life “He was not alone in having lost faith during those days of selection,” Page 76. Elie is talking about the Rabbi losing his faith when he states that the Rabbi is not alone and Elie himself is also losing faith. The selection was when the Germans and doctors looked at how the prisoner’s were health wise and if they where unhealthy they would kill them and put them in the crematoria’s. This, however, was tough for many of the prisoners because most of them where starving and unhealthy, a lot of the people didn’t pass the selections, but those who did

During his time in the concentration camps, Elie’s outlook on life shifted to a very pessimistic attitude, showing emotions and actions including rebellion, forgetfulness of humane treatment, and selfishness. Elie shows rebellion early in the Holocaust at the Solemn Service, a jewish ceremony, by thinking, “Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled” (Wiesel 67). Elie had already shifted his view on his religion and faith in God. After witnessing some of the traumas of the concentration camps, Elie questioned what he did to deserve such treatment. Therefore, he began to rebel against what he had grown up learning and believing. Not only had Elie’s beliefs changed, his lifestyle changed as well. When Elie’s foot swelled, he was sent to the doctor, where they put him “...in a bed with white sheets. I [he] had forgotten that people slept in sheets” (Wiesel 78). Many of the luxuries that Elie may have taken for granted have been stripped of their lives, leaving Elie and the other victims on a thin line between survival and death. By explaining that he forgot about many of these common luxuries, Elie emphasizes the inhumane treatment the victims of the Holocaust were put through on a daily basis.

In the book Night by Elie Wiesel there are many instances where his use of imagery helps establish tone and purpose. For example Elie Wiesel used fire (sight) to represent just that. The fire helps prove that the tone is serious and mature. In no way did Wiesel try to lighten up the story about the concentration camps or the Nazis. His use of fire also helps show his purpose. “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times scaled. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw

Elie’s faith in his Lord and his instinctive love for humanity are put to their final tests as the novel approaches its climax and conclusion. After witnessing the malicious, brutal hanging of an innocent child, Elie comes to the

The Holocaust was a very terrible time in history over six million Jews perished in concentration camps. Even though in every tragedy there are survivors. Elie Wiesel was a little boy when all of this happened. He experienced all of the terrible things that happened during this time frame. While suffering in the terrible condition of the camp Elie and his father’s relationship goes through a drastic change.

Elie starts to have doubts about god he misses his mother and his sister but he lost all hope because the camps were dehumanizing him and made him lose his character and who he used to be but his old self never thought to ever look down on god but he had no other options but too he didn't know if he would ever make it

For example he was questioning his belief, will to live, and if his father was worth sticking with. The text states “Don’t forget that you are in a concentration camp. In this place, it is every man for himself and you cannot think of others. Not even your father” (Wiesel 110). This quote shows that it doesn't matter if it is your father, so Elie should only care for himself. This impacts Elie because he loves his father, you should love your father. For many people to tell him to abandon his father and just not stick with him it can really break down someone emotionally especially if they have been there since the day you were born,and Elie loves his father. They have been through a lot ever since they have been in the concentration

Though faithful as they enter the horrific camps of Auschwitz, Bergen Belsen, Buna, Birknau, Dachau, and Buchenwald, the Jews become capricious. They start losing grip and begin falling down the slippery slope of death the Germans set up for them as more horrors of the camps become unveiled. Soon after arriving in the camp and being told about the crematoria, he felt “anger rising with me [Elie]. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent” (33). This is the first time that his faith is challenged. After a few days in Auschwitz he “had ceased to pray. I [Elie] was not denying His existence, but doubted His absolute justice” (45). As seen, Elie is beginning to have doubts about God and therefore his belief and faith in him. Finally, when Elie is looking for God to come though he doesn’t and he asks,

Elie- an eager learner; seeks out the wisdom of Moishe the Beadle; very spiritual; oblivious to the cruelty going on in concentration camps; is quickly faced with the reality of the German Army; does anything to stay with his father; psychologically strong and quick thinker; he loses his faith in God; focused on surviving; tries his best to save his father. When he and his father arrive at the first concentration camp, Elie is willing to do anything to stay with his father: “I first wanted to see where they would send my father. Were he to have gone to the right, I would have run after him” (32). Luckily, his father moves to the left.

God sent him to the camp and does not seem to try to help or save him. Showing that events took place to murder his God of going to the concentration camps "Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust..."(Wiesel 32). The whole book shows a struggle of everyone in the book struggling to maintain faith even though it mainly focuses on Elie because he is the author. Elie asks himself many times where his God is and begins to question his presence. For example, Elie says “where is god now?”

Elie saw his friends, family, and other Jews degraded and murdered. Elie writes in this book “My God, to whom I was so devoted, to whom I had so much faith, was also murdered by the Nazis,” Elie evolved from a faithful child to a broken man who Questioned his belief in God. As a 14 year old boy separated from his only home and family and sent to a concentration camp in Birkenau, where his mother and sister were tortured and killed in the fire filled hole.