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Examples Of Destruction Of Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

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The Destruction of Faith

Throughout Night, Elie struggles with his faith in his God. He never totally stops believing in Yahweh even though his faith is put to the ultimate test. With the others around him pressuring him to give up on his God, what will Elie do? In Night, Elie Wiesel uses repetition, characterization and tone to illustrate how living in horrific conditions can change a person.
In the beginning of the book, Elie is very religious. He would study Talmud by day and pray and weep in the synagogue by night. He found a teacher in Kabbalah, a modest homeless man named Moishe. When Moishe comes back from his expulsion, he is not the same, “Moishe was not the same. The joy in his eyes was gone. He no longer sang. He no longer mentioned either God or Kabbalah. He spoke only of what he had seen”(7). This example of characterization is the first example of loss of faith that we see. This deeply religious man has lost his …show more content…

“Poor Akiba Drumer, if only he could have kept his faith in God, if only he could have considered this suffering a divine test, he would not have been swept away by the selection”(77). This shows how the others around Elie are dealing with the harsh conditions of the camps. Akiba turned to his faith because it was all that he had left. When he gives up on God, he gives up on everything, therefore, losing his will to live. It shows how tough Elie is to make it through the camps. “And in spite of myself, a prayer formed inside of me, a prayer to this God in whom I no longer believed. Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done”(91). This example of characterization shows how desperate, gullible, scared and hopeful Elie is even after everything he’s been through. Though, Elie does not believe in God, he still holds onto the hope that someone out there is listening. This hope helps him make it out of the camp

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