The Death of Faith
Faith is like a little seed; if you think about the positive aspects of a situation, then it will grow, like a seed grows when you water it. However, if the seed does not receive water anymore, it will die, which serves as a parallel to the horrors and antagonism of the concentration camps that killed Elie’s faith. After the analysis of the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, the reader can visualize the horrors and slaughter of millions of innocent people that occurred in concentration camps. Throughout the book, Wiesel explains how his faith in God was tested, as he was forced to leave his home, separated from his family, and observed the death all around him; he even witnessed children being thrown into huge ditches of fire alive. Elie felt abandoned, betrayed, and deceived by the God that he knew who was a loving and giving God. It was then he started to doubt His existence. Elie tried to hold on to his faith, but the childhood innocence had disappeared from within him, and he lost his faith in God completely.
In the beginning of the book, Elie’s faith in God is so strong that he never questions His existence. He went to the synagogue every day after school unlike other boys this age. He wanted to get closer to God by studying the Jewish texts more. He thought that the closer to God that if he was close to God than God will save him from anything. “One day I asked my father to find me a master who could guide me in my studies of Kabbalah” (Wiesel 4). Elie’s
This indicates that Elie does not understand why someone wouldn’t pray to God, further showing God is an important part of his life, hence the reason his faith is strong. As the Ghetto forms and the Jews receive the news
In the memoir “Night” by Elie Wiesel, a young boy and his family from Germany are put into Nazi concentration camps, only to find what the true horrors are. During the holocaust millions of innocent people were killed by the German leader “Hitler”. Throughout the times in the Camps, faith and God is questioned. It is shown that it can be hard to keep faith in God, when faced with hardships.
In the novel, “Night”, Elie Wiesel is ripped from his childhood and thrown into the horrors of the Holocaust. Elie’s perspective gives us a view into the horrendous truths of the Jew’s treatment in the concentration camp. Throughout his journey from his house, to Auschwitz, to eventually a work camp, Buna; he begins to change mentally. One of the most heartbreaking and disturbing transition is his change in faith and the way he sees a benevolent God.
Horrific. Sadness. Misfortune. In the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, a life changing time to which an experience will bring sadness and disgust, which led to the distinguish of his faith over time in the camps. Elie's faith was firm in Sighet and once introduced to the camps, he begins to question his faith, then proves to show disbelief towards God.
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
I have begun reading Night by Elie Wiesel. This novel is about the events that Elie Wiesel endured as a teenager and harrowing truths about the holocaust. The first chapter was quickly paced and straightforward. A major part of Eli’s day was studying. A man Elie meets named Moishe the Beadle begins to cause him to question his faith and why he prays. The man is definitely different and this later causes the community to miss a warning sign of their impending doom. Moishe the Beadle is a foreign jew and is taken away months earlier than the other jews. He witnesses and miraculously survives a mass murder of foreign jews by faking dead. After returning to Sighet he attempt to warn the residents of what happened but no one believed him. This is important because at this time there were still visas available but since no one could fathom the idea of an attack on a whole population that included millions no one listened. Eli thinks, “Annihilate an entire people? Wipe out a population dispersed throughout so many nations? So many millions of people! By what means?” (8) I liked this explanation in the book because most holocaust books brush over the reason of not leaving when they sensed conflict besides fear and this seemed much more logical in the fact that it does appear to be unbelievable.
In every religion, the holy text or the preachers ask that their worshippers believe in some form of God. Most people can blindly pursue and believe in God without question, without inquisition. Then there are those who cannot aimlessly worship a possibly fictional God. The struggle comes when there is no validation, no confirmation, of God or anything that He ever did. During the Holocaust, an estimated six million Jews struggle with their faith in every concentration camp, including Elie Wiesel. In Night, Elie Wiesel uses tone, diction, and characterization to expose his internal battle with believing in his faith and seeing the others battle with their faith as well.
It is a well known and obvious fact that if a boy who strongly believes in God gets starved and tortured nearly to death along with six million other Jewish people, he is going to start to lose faith in God. If God not taking action and stopping or even helping the cause and results of the Holocaust he is definitely not going to have faith in God anymore. The Holocaust was one of the most famous genocides of all time. It was started by the Nazis in Germany, and Hitler was the leader of it all. His goal was to eliminate all Jewish people like it says in Hitler's “Final Solution”, which states All Jews must be killed during the war. No exceptions!!! Elie Wiesel’s Night shows us what Elie (Eliezer) and his father went through during the Holocaust. Even though Eliezer starts his life with a lot of faith in God, all that he witnesses and suffers in the concentration camps makes him start to question whether he believes in God or if He's really there due to all the bad that is happening to not only
Drastic events may change the way we view the world. It may cause us to lose our belief in God, family, and humanity. Loss of faith is displayed in Elie Wiesel’s “Night”. “Night” follows Elie’s teenage life in a Nazi German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Initially Elie has a great faith in family, humanity, and God. As days gone by inside the camp, he witnessed and experienced countless cruel acts by humans against humans. This acts have made Elie question his beliefs. In the memoir people have questioned their faith in humanity, family, and lastly God.
Kids tend to rebel against their parents as they grow older. In the memoir, Night, Elie Wiesel recalls his experiences with his family during World War II. His mother and sisters were taken away from him as soon as he arrived at Auschwitz, only his father remained. Elie Wiesel witnessed many terrible events during his first night at camp; the only thing that kept him in line was his father. Elie Wiesel’s father kept him from possibly killing himself. When Elie Wiesel lives in the concentration camp with his fellow Jews, he begins to question the fairness of God, who he had followed his entire life. Elie Wiesel lost faith in God, particularly the faith that He would use His divine power to help him, and he began to rely on his father instead, which gave him more reason to live.
Indian civil rights leader, Mahatma Gandhi, once wrote, “Faith is not something you can grasp, it is a state to grow into.” In this quote, Gandhi explains how faith is not only a strong concept, but also an individual journey one must take. However, since faith is described as a state of change, it is necessary that one can let go of the burden of religion. In the memoir, Night, the author, Elie Wiesel, details his personal experiences with God and faith. Set during the Holocaust, Wiesel was one of millions of Jews persecuted for his faith; he was thrown into one of the deadliest concentration camps at age 15. In the beginning of the memoir, Elie Wiesel attempts to study the Kabbalah and pursue numerous religious endeavours; as the memoir continues, Elie begins to lose his religion. Although many people in the world may rely on faith and religion, Elie Wiesel presents the memoir, Night, along with its many symbols to show that even in the most dire of circumstances, faith cannot always help an individual in need.
During the Holocaust, a few of the Jews who were imprisoned in the concentration camps managed to keep their faith, but for most it was not that simple. With all that the Jews had to endure, many fought a battle with their faith. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie starts off very religious Jew during WWII. While he starts off very religious, his opinion changes throughout the novel. Elie Wiesel goes from loving and actively pursuing his faith to being angry at God and even losing all faith completely.
We encounter Elie’s lost of faith throughout the book. Once he was separate he was brought to an area where bodies were being thrown into a fire. He started losing his faith in humanity once he saw the cruel things that were happening. When people lose there faith, they lose their faith in God and themselves. They start looking on the negative side of life and just lose their focus for what they wanted. Elie would want to study the Cabala but his father didn’t approve of it. He would always look out for not just his family but the people around him. Elie would always pray but wouldn't know why. He fascinated with Judaism so he goes without his father’s permission to learn more. “Never shall I forget those flames, which consumed my faith forever.” on page 45 clearly tells us that his faith was lost due to the fact that bodies were being thrown into the flames. As the book
“Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.” -President Snow in The Hunger Games. The book Night by Elie Wiesel is a true story about the holocaust. In the story the main character, Elie, experiences terrible things. He is so hopeful that things are going to get better (after all how could they get any worse) and he is so fearful that his last bit of hope will be taken away and he will give up on life. Elie experiences the worst things that we can imagine. How could anyone have hope in such darkness? What could anyone fear when they have lost everything?
Everyone experiences emotional and physiological obstacles in their life. However, these obstacles are incomparable to the magnitude of the obstacles the prisoners of the Holocaust faced every day. In his memoir, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, illustrates the horrors of the concentration camps and their mental tool. Over the course of Night, Wiesel demonstrates, that exposure to an uncaring, hostile world leads to destruction of faith and identity.