Many people throughout the world hold religion and beliefs close to them, but how many of them stay true to their faith when innocent people are dying all around them. You and many others might question what terrible things must have been done for any of you to deserve this, or if there will be a savoir to rescue you all. These were the thoughts of many in the concentration camps of Auschwitz. Night is a Memoir of Elie Wiesel written in 1956 about his survival of these camps and the struggles he has faced. Wiesel shows how hope and belief can be shredded by strife and struggle for survival. He also illustrates Elie's gradual loss of faith and eventually bitterness towards his God. He also shows the strength that comes from hope and belief. …show more content…
All the prisoners had strong beliefs throughout their life, and this was used to give them hope for a better future. Elie was working in the warehouse like the other Jews when he was abruptly beaten by the Idek for no discernible reason, the reality to many in the camps. As he crawled into a corner to bring himself together, a French girl came to help him recover. She spoke words of hope, saying to him, “Bite your lips little brother… Don’t cry. Keep your anger, your hate, for another day, for later. The day will come but not now… Wait. Clench your teeth and wait…” (Wiesel 53). These words were of reassurance and gave him hope moving forward to keep surviving and pushing past the days. The phrases “Clench your teeth” and “Bite your lips” are both actions done when trying to endure pain, showing us and Elie that there will be more conflict and pain in the future, but to not act on impulse and anger. Instead, just to wait for the day of salvation, of …show more content…
As the Day of Atonement approaches for the Jews in the camps, they debate whether they should fast and hold true to their faith or continue to eat and push away from the tests of God. Elie asks himself, “Yom Kippur. The Day of Atonement. Should we fast? The question was hotly debated. To fast could mean a more certain, more rapid death. In this place, we were always fasting. It was Yom Kippur year-round. But there were those who said we should fast precisely because it was dangerous to do so. We needed to show God that even here, locked in hell, we were capable of singing His praises.” (Wiesel 69). In the end he did not fast to please his father for he had forbidden Elie to do so, but also as an act of defiance against God. Elie could not accept Gods silence to the cruelty of the camps any longer. As he describes it, “I felt a great void opening” (Wiesel 69), as his beliefs are stripped from him and his faith had shattered. Later we see Elie lying in the infirmary after having his leg operated on. There were rumors flowing through the camp that The Red Army was racing towards Buna. The thought of freedom gives the people of the camp hope, but a sick man lying next to Elie tells him not to be deluded, that Hitler will kill all the Jews before the clock strikes twelve. Elie exploded and asked him why he should believe a word he says. The sick man
Later on in the story he noticed that God wasn’t helping them and started to lose what he used to believe in. An example of syntax is when Elie says “I had never asked myself that question. I cried because . . . because something inside me felt the need to cry. That was all I knew.”
In the text, Elie talks about what things he will never forget about his first night in camp and he states “Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever….Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.” (Wiesel 34) this shows how on the first night in Auschwitz that he starts to question why his god would let something like this happen and he starts to lose faith that his life will get better. While Elie was in the Buna camp he and the other prisoners were forced to watch the
When Elie decides not to fast, its a sign that he is moving further away from God, and is not accepting his “silence”. The tone now is angry, but still has some sadness. This tone should make the reader think that Elie won’t go back to God, and will keep on rebelling because of his silence towards “his people.” On page 69, the sentence “I looked up at my father’s face, trying to glimpse a smile or something
In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, there are many hardships that caused the characters to lose faith in their religion. Night is a 1960 memoir based on Weisel's Holocaust experiences with his father in the Nazi German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944 -1945 toward the end of the Second World War in Europe. In the novel many prisoners struggle with their faith. “Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my god and my soul and turned my drams to dust.”
And then, there was no longer any reason for me to fast. I no longer accepted God’s silence ”(69). This is showing Elizer stopped feeling hope because of the circumstance that he is in and the harsh situation he is living
Realizing the reality of the place they’re stuck in, Wiesel starts to question his unwavering loyalty to God. Another example of Wiesel’s defiance of his religion is demonstrated when he thinks, “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). This occurs on Yom Kippur when Wiesel struggled with the decision of whether to fast or not. In the end, he chooses not to fast in defiance of God.
As the first horrific night in the concentration camp slowly revealed itself, Elie as a person was changed. His beliefs became different and he was no longer able to see the world in the same light, as expressed in "never shall I forget these moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust"(43). Elie began to resent God and the religious habits he had been following just like that. As his life was being broken down little by little, his religion became less and less to him. This was because he couldn't get past the thought that God should stop this but isn’t stopping it at all.
and Elie hears a voice in his state “Where is He? Here He is-He is hanging here on this gallows....”. This event had a deep impact on Elie himself, as it was an event that caused him to start to doubt and lose his faith, through his time in these camps he was praying and had hope in his god, the god that was always there for him. But as time went on and Elie watched people die around him, innocent people he lost his faith. How could the god he believed so strongly abandon his people like this and leave them to
Elie was starting to lose faith in his religion fast. He was a dedicated Jew before he arrived at Auschwitz, and now the Nazi’s are forcing him to challenge his beliefs. So in summary, Elie faced a lot of struggles that made him question his beliefs, but I believe these struggles to find the truth only made him a stronger
In this book Elie speaks of his hardships and how he survived the concentration camps. Elie quickly changed into a sorrowful person, but despite that he was determined to stay alive no matter the cost. For instance, during the death
The heart wrenching and powerful memoir “Night” by Elie Wiesel depicts Elie’s struggle through the holocaust. It shows the challenges and struggles Elie and people like him faced during this mournful time, the dehumanization; being forced out of their homes, their towns and sent to nazi concentration camps, being stripped of their belongings and valuables, being forced to endure and witness the horrific events during one of history’s most ghastly tales. In “Night” Elie does not only endure a physical journey but also a spiritual journey as well, this makes him question his determination, faith and strength. This spiritual journey is a journey of self discovery and is shown through Elie’s struggle with himself and his beliefs, his father
The debate was whether or not they should fast. If they fasted, it would be dangerous because it could mean a quicker death. The people in camp who still had faith fasted. Elie did not fast. He was following his father’s request and he no longer felt the need to fast.
It explains what goes through Eliezer’s mind when he thinks about the faith he has in god. Lastly, this book shows that the loss of hope was the death of many. Hope and faith gave the prisoners a reason to keep living, giving them the idea that they have a chance to make it out. This is an example of hope being brought to the prisoners in the concentration camps: “During these last few nights, we had heard the guns in the distance” (44). When they heard the gunshots, they knew that someone was out there fighting for them.
Traditionally, Jewish people fast during this extremely important holiday. When the day arrives, Jews in the concentration camp are conflicted: should they fast as they always have, or do circumstances outweigh traditions? Wiesel recounts this argument in Night: “...there were those who said we should fast, precisely because it was dangerous to do so. We needed to show God that even here, locked in hell, we were capable of singing His praises. I did not fast...
This quote as a whole gives off absolutely stunning imagery. The way Elie could make one feel as if they were there with him experiencing this all with him, is due to his use of astounding literary devices. In this quote, one can tell that Elie not only suffered because of his fellow Jews being murdered but also because his God was murdered along with them. The concentration camps took everything away from Elie. They took away his faith, his God, his loved ones, his humanity, his will to live, himself, and his innocence.