During his stay in the concentration camps, author and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Elie Wiesel changed, spiritually and mentally. In his memoir Night, you follow him through the horrifying concentration camps of the Holocaust. You watch as he struggles with his faith and his humanity. Before his experience at the concentration camps, Elie was devoted to his faith, but after the horrors of the concentration camps, Elie could not find it within him to have faith any longer. Elie was furious, furious at the Nazis, but also at his God for allowing such horrible things to happen to him. Elie challenges his faith in God when he sees the thousands of Jews in the camp, who all were put there because of their faith in their God. Once everything sunk in Elie thinks, “I no longer accepted God’s silence”(Wiesel 69). Elie is understandably angry. He had had faith in his God, and had devoted himself to learning all about his religion, but after his experiences, he felt that his God had not only abandoned him, but also the other Jews who had believed in him. Elie sees the things going on in the camp, and he realizes that God is allowing it to happen. Earlier in the book, Elie was completely devoted to his God, studying the Kabbalah day and night. But now Elie has seen …show more content…
After witnessing the abandonment of a father via his son, Elie hopes that he does not become like that. But soon, when hunger tears at him, he thinks about taking his father’s food for his own. Another inmate tries to convince him to take his father’s portion and Elie thought, ”He was right, I thought deep down, not daring to admit it to myself”(Wiesel 111). Elie thought of betraying his father, even if for a second and this shows the change in Elie. In the start of the book, Elie was selfless, caring for both him and his father. But, the longer he stays in the camps, the more resentful he becomes, but not only at his God and the Nazis, but also at his
In the novel Night, Elie Wiesel gives an account about his life in a concentration camp. His focus is of course on his obstacles and challenges while in the camp, but his behavior is an example of how human beings respond to life in a concentration camp. The mood, personality, behavior, and obviously physical changes that occur are well documented in this novel. He also shows, as time wears on, how these changes become more profound and all the more appalling. As the reader follows Elie Wiesel’s story, from his home in the ghetto, to his internment at Auschwitz-Birkenau, to his transfer and eventual release at Buchenwald, one can see the impact of these changes first hand.
The spiritual change in Elie was substantial. He went from a pious, devout Jew who spent countless of hours studying his faith. He never questioned God, but that is probably because everything was always good. During his stay at the concentration camps, Elie never stops believing in God, although he does question what he is doing. On page 64, Elie says, “Why, but why I should I bless Him? In every fiber I rebelled. Because He had thousands of children burned in His pits? Because He kept six crematories working night and day, on Sundays and feast days? Because in His great might He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many factories of death?…” This shows the
Ever since Elie was in the concentration camp, he has slowly lost faith in God as he “...did not fast. First of all, to please my father, who had forbidden me to do so. And then, 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” (Wiesel 69). By not fasting like he did before when he was not in the concentration camp, it shows his rebellion against God as he has lost any sign of hope for God. Elie also decides to eat for the sake of his health and his well being in that situation as everyone was starving even before the fasting occured. His beliefs in God has changed from his past as it affects his views on God and his beliefs about him. The concentration camp had also made Elie question his beliefs of God as he asked himself “Bless be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves?” (Wiesel 67). Elie processes his decision onto why he should even pray to God as he had lost hope and signs of God ever since he saw the horrifying acts made in the camps. His views had been changed him from his past as he questions his beliefs and wonders why God has not saved them from all their misery. Elie had changed his ways of viewing his
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,
The thoughts of condemnation and lack of self-preservation wouldn’t have ravished his mind. Page eighty-six later reveals how Elie “soon forgot him” and became more selfish by “think{ing} of {himself} again. ”Throughout much of the book, Elie writes on his selflessness towards protecting and caring for his father, but after facing so much he grows more and more selfish. This quote shows the insensitive nature that Elie developed through his time spent in the concentration camps. Lastly, Elie continually confesses his personal conflict with emotional dormancy through his
Throughout a lifetime, people undergo many different identities to discover their true self. Elie Wiesel, the author of the memoir Night, suffered a major event that changed his identity forever. In his experience at the concentration camps during the Holocaust, Elie had to fight to stay alive even during the most resilient moments. This event shaped his life and brought Elie to endure different perspectives in his time in the camps. Eliezer’s identity changed throughout the memoir from faithful, to fearful, to hopeless.
Elie loses complete faith in god in many points where god let him down. He struggles physically and mentally for life and no longer believes there is a god. Elie worked hard to save himself and asks god many times to help him and take him out of the misery he was facing. "Why should I sanctify his name? The Almighty, the eternal, and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent..."(page 33). Elie was confused, because he doesn’t know why the Germans would kill his race amongst many others, and he does not know why god could let such thing happen to innocent people. "I did not deny god's existence, but I doubted his absolute justice..."(page 42). These conditions gave him confidence, and a courage to
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.
Night is a book written by Elie Wiesel. In this book Wiesel tells about his experiences in the Holocaust. Wiesel was only twelve years old when the Holocaust first affected him. Early on Wiesel was separated from his mother and sister. Him and his father were then moved from camp to camp having to endure harsh conditions. Together they both saw terrible things that they will never forget. Many conflicts in The Holocaust changed both Wiesel and his father. The two factors that affected Wiesel the most was him having to indirectly face the entire Nazi society and his believe and trust in God.
Throughout the duration of the Holocaust, many Jews witnessed the worst of humanity. In concentration camps, over six million people were killed and tortured. Among the people imprisoned in these camps was Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor. In his memoir Night, the many acts of dehumanization and cruelty that Wiesel witnesses ultimately leads to his loss of faith in both his god and humanity.
People often begin to lose faith in God because of the results they faced from their life experiences. Some face things that seem cruel and unbearable while others are “confronted with the information presented from another viewpoint that rejects God” (Gospel Billboards). Elie was told by his father to never lose his faith in God, it would help him get through tough times and keep him strong. The faith is the only strong force that helped Elie Wiesel get through the Holocaust. Through experiences that involve cruel and unbearable moments, people start questioning whether God has the answers to life’s problems. This results in faith beginning to weaken, people stop communicating with God, which makes it easier for one’s faith to diminish. We encounter Elie questioning and refusing God, but also see his contradictory behavior he exhibits to praise. However, throughout the book, Eliezer witnesses and experiences things that leads him to lose his faith in his religion. The longer he stays in the concentration camps, the more he experiences and sees cruelty and suffering. Eliezer believes that people who pray to a God who allows their families to suffer and die are more stronger and forgiving to God. Elie was angry at God, he thought God didn’t deserve his praises or honors because he expected God to come save him but he never did. He observes people die and others around him slowly lose hope, starve, Elie ceases to believe that God could exist at all now. “Where He is? This
At the beginning of Night, Eliezer describes himself as someone who believes “Profoundly.” However, as the book carries on, that tends to change. The experiences he goes through changes him as a person.
Traumatic and scarring events occur on a daily basis; from house fires to war, these memories are almost impossible to forget. The Holocaust is only one of the millions of traumas that have occurred, yet it is known worldwide for sourcing millions of deaths. Elie Wiesel was among the many victims of the Holocaust, and one of the few survivors. In the memoir, “Night”, by Elie Wiesel, Elie, the main character, is forever changed because of his traumatic experiences in the Auschwitz concentration camps.
There are many records of first person experiences in the Holocaust that show what it was like to live during the time period, and most records are the victims; telling their story. During the Holocaust, about 6 million jews were killed. A spectator witnessing this horrendous brutality was Elie Wiesel. Elie Wiesel was born in Transilvania and was sent to a death camp when he was around 15. He witnessed horrible things and wrote a book about his experiences in 3 Austwitz death camps. The plot of his memoir,”Night” follows him through his life in the death camps with his father and how they stay together until the enevitable death of his weak and ailing father. A big part of the memoir is how their relationship changes throughout the story.
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,