A Loss in Faith, Ever Found?
Night, written by Elie Wiesel, tells the terrifying experience in the concentration camps that many Jews were imprisoned in during World War II. Throughout most of the novel, Elie Wiesel tells about how many prisoners, including himself, lost faith in God. During the Holocaust many groups of people, especially Jews, were taken to concentrations camps and treated in the most inhumane way. Many were taken away from their homes, and lost everything that was once their own. In order to survive, many Jews encountered such brutal difficulties. They were worked to death, starved to death, killed, and all because they were Jews. Upon being taken away, many were unaware with what was happening outside their own homes.
…show more content…
“I looked at my house in which I had spent years seeking my God, fasting to hasten the coming of the Messiah, imagining what my life would be like later. Yet I felt little sadness. My mind was empty” (Wiesal, 19). This shows that although his faith has not completely “rebelled” against him, upon leaving his home to the concentration camp there are a few religious aspects, including the synagogue that Ellie would go to, gone. Along with that, his home and some of his morality may be gone. Though the state and situation Elie is in right now has not entirely hurt his belief in his religion, later on it is clear.
As readers, this opposition in faith is seen chapters into the novel when Elie first arrives at Auschwitz. Auschwitz was, if not, the largest concentration camp established by the Nazis during their regime. When Elie arrives he and his family are immediately separated by female/children to the right, and males to the left. Afterward, a fellow prisoner tells Elie and his father about the crematory which immediately triggers negative thoughts for Elie. The prisoners are then ordered to march toward the pits which children and adults are burned. Both Elie and his father began reciting prayers of the dead along with others who were reciting. At this point while they continued to march Elie has his first moment of loss in faith with God. “For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and
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
Elie was a holocaust victim who was almost forced, by other jews, into a furnace, by order of the Nazis. “Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever” Elie was very religious before the Holocaust and yet on the first night at Auschwitz he lost his faith in God. He regained faith
Before Elie was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, he displayed some positive character traits such as; faithful, courageous, and smart. To begin, Wiesel states: “He had watched me one day as I prayed at dusk” (4) Elie is talking to Moishe the Beadle (teacher in Sighet) and wasn’t afraid to express his faith. Obviously Elie is faithful because he is praying, but this shows that he is also very passionate about his faith and doesn’t care if people know if he is Jewish. Elie had this trait before he was sent to Auschwitz, and he made his faith number one. Further into his stay at the Auschwitz concentration camp, Elie starts to let his faith drift away, leaving him with almost nothing. Next, Wiesel states: “There could no longer be any doubt: Germany would be defeated. It was only a matter of time, months, weeks perhaps.” (8) Elie and his family were getting worried about the Nazi’s invading many Jewish homes. Elie becomes very confident to the situation and tells himself that the Germans will be defeated. Confidence is deeply displayed in this piece of text evidence because he begins to make it a fact that the
Have you ever had to make an instant decision that would significantly impact your life?
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
Elie's struggle with his faith to God is a major internal conflict he has with him self in the book Night. In the beginning of the book, his faith in God is completly untoched. When questiond about his faith and why he would pray to God, he ask, “Why did I pray? Why did I live? Why did I breathe?”( Winsel Pg 2) His belief in a powerful and able God is untouched, and he cannot think of living without his faith in his religions practices, as it has been one of the main guides in his life. But this faith he has is shaken by his experience during the Holocaust and the events that took place, what he lives and what he sees.
Elie’s faith is very tight at the beginning of the memoir, he had faith in God when he and the other Jews of Sighet were taken to the ghettos. “And we, the Jews of Sighet, were waiting for better days, which would not be long in coming now'' (5). This show that Elie’s faith was strong enough to believe that life would get better and the hardship would soon be over. It was not easy for Elie to have doubt in God when the Nazis were brutally oppressing the Jews in the ghettos. Once Elie and all the others were transported to Auschwitz, Elie was separated from his father and was tortured and forced to work. In the camp Elie was in, some of the youth with him were planning to take down the Nazis and said "We must do something. We can't let them kill us like that, like cattle in the slaughterhouse. We must revolt."(31). Then an
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
Setting (time and place): Early 1940s, during World War Two, Holocaust era. starting in Sighet, Transylvania, and moving throughout concentration camps in Europe.
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,
An important nonfiction book that I think everyone should read is Night by Elie Wiesel. This book was published in 1960 by Hill and Wang. It has 116 pages and it is told by a man who survived the Holocaust. This was a very important moment in history that everyone needs knowledge on.
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
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,
Elie's faith was once strong but now it is weak because of the Germans. Once he arrived at camp Elie's faith had already weakened. Once experiencing everything at the camp Elie stopped praying and taking part in Jewish activities. This should encourage others to make up their own minds. You can make your own opinions and have your own
There are many vices that are taken up exclusively by Humans. Other animals don’t think about wiping out entire races or species just for kicks, most species don’t have the urge to attempt genocide or even turning on their own kin, but humans do. Elie Wiesel was a holocaust survivor whose ghastly year at the Auschwitz death camp was shared with the world by way of his book, “Night.”