Essay about 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

Eliezer or Elie is a 12 year old boy who lived in Sighet, Transylvania. Elie was a strong believer, or believed profoundly. He thought deeply about his faith. But once he, his family, and Jewish community got sent to concentration camps like Auschwitz and Buna Elie’s faith began to collapse. Elie's faith has changed a lot throughout this book. There are three examples of his faith changing from the beginning of the book and to page 84.

The very first night he arrived at Auschwitz Eliezer began to lose his faith in God. He knew what was coming his way at the camp. His first night was full of dreadful memories that he says he will never forget. One of those memories was “Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes”(34). This quote displays the early stages of Eliezer lack of faith in God. The moments he references to in the quote are scary and horrifying experiences he had went through in his first night at the camp. He had to accept the hardships he was about to undergo and the dreams and hopes he had in life that he had just lost. With those hopes and dreams he also lost faith in God.

Eliezer sees inhumanity all around him, he sees the cruelty the Nazis conflict and even his fellow prisoner. Eliezer does not understand how people can treat others so horribly and how easy it was for fellow prisoners to turn their backs on each other instead of comforting each other in such times of need. His faith is now becoming slim with not just God of also humanity. Eliezer states a Kapo said to him “Here, every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else. Even of his Father. Here, there are no Fathers, no Brothers, no friends. Every one lives and dies for himself alone”

Prior to his experiences in the concentration camps, Eliezer expresses his faithfulness to God and how he feels the need to further himself in his religion. Early in chapter one Elie strongly conveys his desire for a mentor to help him down his spiritual path. In the text he states:

Eliezer’s religious views undergo extreme change through his tragic and harsh journey since he was forcefully moved away from his tranquil life to an inhumane concentration. At first, he was very devote and enthusiastic about religion, not only because his father was a religious leader, but because of his genuine interest. He even pressured his father to allow him to study more advanced religious topic. But as soon as his family is taken away from his and murdered, he begins to question whether God exists, since he once believed he would stop any suffering from happening. As part of his religious questioning, he mentions how various instances of “betrayal” by Adam and Eve, Noah’s generation, and Sodom that caused God to punish their wrongdoings.

He did not believe that God would let these horrors progress without any complications. He felt as if He is watching idly as these horrendous acts were being performed: Babies being thrown into a ravaging fire, him and fellow Jews being starved, slowly dying, and more. Eliezer though that God is not good because people were dying everywhere he looked. “For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?” (33). Eliezer questions God and his power to protect people and the world. He has lost more than half his family, and he and his father and millions of other Jews, are struggling to survive under those circumstances. There is no one to assist them, except God, however, he does not do anything to help. They have to suffer and feel the pain every single day cracking through their exterior. There is no one stopping them from whipping him twenty times or having someone beat his sick father senseless. No one, and no higher being. Eliezer had yearned to be guided in the studies of the Kabbalah at the ripe age of thirteen. He is a very religious boy from the beginning and believed in God wholeheartedly. His belief is so strong; it is ironic that he did not believe in His good later. He may have seen the true form of God and what He

Douglas, the author of the academic journal Elie Wiesel's Relationship with God, agrees that Eliezer struggles and doubts God throughout the novel. As Douglas wrote, “the seeming meaninglessness of the suffering his people endured had to burst into the consciousness of his seemingly indomitable Jewish faith.” His article goes on to give specific examples of how Eliezer loses his faith throughout his journey. Douglas does not think that Eliezer completely loses his faith, in fact, he believes that Eliezer is just reevaluating God’s role in the world. He explains that one of Eliezer’s biggest mistakes is when he says, “Yes, man is stronger, greater than God (Wiesel 67).” To this Douglas says, “Any answer cannot come from man, but from God himself.” This was the lowest point for Eliezer because this is when all his knowledge of God was painstakingly thrown in the trash; not fully forgotten, but no longer in

First Off, the first obstacle the reader becomes aware of as the novel progresses is Eliezer’s internal thoughts in regards to losing his family, this is exemplified through him describing the separation of the women and children from the strong men and boys. He describes them being separated and him “watch[ing] [as they] walk[ed], getting further and further away,” Eliezer does not realise that this will be the last time he sees his mother and sister. His father is now all he has, which proves to lead to many pivotal moments further into the novel. His loss of touch with his familial roots proves to be more of an internal struggle as Eliezer tries to cope with his own character changes. His father becomes a central component of his will to

Eliezer’s future will be affected greatly by his experience. I believe that Elie realized that he shouldn’t take everything for granted, or he shouldn’t expect everything to come to him. He learns what being deprived feels like with things such as: food, water, or sleep. After the experience, he realizes that there can be worse. Eliezer will also remember his father in a bad way. Every time he is asked to talk about his family, he will think of his father and the camp they were at together. Eliezer will think of how he watched his father die of dysentery or how he watched his father get beaten for no reason. When he thinks of his mother or sisters, he will have hardly any peaceful memories. He will only think of his family being torn apart

As discussed in the previous entry, Eliezer is very pious as he “lives only for God” () and devotes his time to the study and practice of Judaism. Experiencing his own pain and witnessing other inmates’ suffering changed his perspective on God’s kindness. From watching living babies being thrown into the crematorium to having his family torn apart, Eliezer expects The Almighty to protect humans from atrocities and can’t accept that God allows the occurrence of such events. Because

The silences of god through Elie's eyes is why he starts to question his faith in god. Elie has been through a large number of misfortunes

Eliezer was a jew who had a strong sense of faith in god, although this was a changed when he was sent to concentration camps during the second world war. For example, Elie began to question god because he believed a god shouldn’t let his followers go through the pain the jews went through. Consequently, both Elie and his father decided not to celebrate holidays such as Yom Kippur and Kabbalah, which in effect caused him to stray from the path of religion later in his life. The results were Elie stopped praying to a god because he knew that he wouldn’t be saved. Elie changed his religious view after he went through the pain and suffering

When the holocaust started and Eliezer’s family got moved to the ghetto he questioned god but, didn’t think much of it. Then when his mother and sister got separated and killed, he was angry with god. He started questioning god and everything around him. He just couldn’t believe that god could let so many innocent people be murdered.

Elie’s relationship with G-d shifts throughout the novel through his experiences in Nazi control changing his initial definition and understanding G-d. Before his deportation, Eliezer understand G-d as being merciful and loving, and Eliezer had a deep connection with Judaism. On page 5 of the novel, Eliezer reveals his interest in reading the Zohar, a dense, and highly spiritual book of Judaism usually reserved for elders who have immersed their entire life in the religion. He wishes to “discover the very essence of divinity” (5). Eliezer wants to come to know G-d well, and hopes to do so by leading a Jewish life.