Every man, woman, or child has his or her breaking point, no matter how hard they try to hold it back. In Night by Elie Wiesel the main theme of the entire book is the human living condition. The quality of human life is overwhelming because humans have the potential to make amazing discoveries that help all humans. Elie Wiesel endures some of the most cruel living conditions known to mankind. This essay explains the themes of chapter one, chapter four, chapter eight in Night by Elie Wiesel. Nothing is lost if faith is still present. In Night by Elie Wiesel, the main theme of chapter one is faith. While speaking to Moishe the Beadle, Elie says, “I pray to the the God within me for the strength to ask him the real questions” (Wiesel 5). …show more content…
Clench your teeth and wait” (Wiesel 53). In order to survive Elie must save his anger, so the young French woman helps calm Elie down. This quote show evidence that the main theme of chapter four is survival. While speaking to Elie, Franek says, “I knew it, I knew that I would win, kid. Better late than never, And because you made me wait, it will also cost you a ration of bread. A ration of bread for one of my pals, a famous dentist from Warshaw. To pay him for pulling out your crown” (56). In order to survive, Elie must give up his golden crown, and a ration of his own bread. This quote shows evidence that the theme of chapter four is survival. While the prisoners line up for role call, a Kapo says, “ An ordinary inmate does not have the right to mix into other people’s affairs. One of you does not seem to have understood this point. I shall therefore try to make him understand clearly, once and for all” (57). After Elie gets caught spying on the Kapo, he gets beat for breaking the rules. These quotes show clear evidence that the main theme of chapter four is survival. Sometimes it is good to follow the rules when someone’s life is on the line. The theme of chapter seven in Night by Elie Wiesel is conformity. After the train stops a German orders the people that are still alive to throw the dead out, Elie say, “The living were glad. They would have more room. Volunteers began the task. They touched those who remained on the ground” (Wiesel
The book Night is a story of family, religion, violence, and hope. This book tells the story of Elie Wiesel’s journey through the holocaust. During the novel, Wiesel writes with the purpose of teaching us several lessons. This lesson is conveyed through Wiesel’s actions, other character’s actions, as well as quotations. The lesson Wiesel taught in Night is to persevere and never lose hope up no matter how hopeless the situation may seem.
Elie’s faith in his Lord and his instinctive love for humanity are put to their final tests as the novel approaches its climax and conclusion. After witnessing the malicious, brutal hanging of an innocent child, Elie comes to the
In the book “Night” Elie Wiesel’s loss of faith and spiritual struggle throughout the narrative demonstrates a personal experience that ties into the more general struggle of the wider Jewish community, the challenge of how their religious faith and spirituality played a role in their survival in the face of extreme suffering. Before the Nazis took control of the German country, the Jewish community lived quite peaceful and successful lives even despite the anti-Semitism during the time. Looking at sources, many talk about how large the Jewish community was in eastern Europe but separate from the country’s culture. However, in western Europe the Jewish community were more integrated with their own countries culture. As stated by the Holocaust Encyclopedia the Jewish community in western Europe “ tended to adopt the culture of their non-Jewish neighbors.
Next, Elie decides to rebel against God by not fasting on the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur. Lastly, Elie and the others are forced to watch the hangings, the men begin to question where God is and why he is allowing Jews to suffer. Secondly, Elie’s attitude changes towards his father. At the beginning of the book, Elie was afraid of leaving his father’s side. Towards the end of the book Night, he wanted to leave his father behind and not find him.
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
Many of those who believe in religion abide by their faith, but during times of immense suffering, that faith is often tested. Through his memoir Night, Elie Wiesel introduces the reader to his life during the Holocaust through the character Eliezer, a teenage boy from Sighet, Transylvania. Eliezer and his father move into multiple concentration camps with a constant risk of torture or death. The memoir gives the reader the perspective Elie had about the inhumane and brutal treatment the Jewish prisoners received. Wiesel writes about his experience of the Holocaust and its result of personal struggles with God and his faith. The Holocaust proves to be a trying time for Elie Wiesel and causes him to question critical aspects of life. Elie survives the Holocaust through a battle of conscience: first believing
Throughout our daily lives, we are consistently presented with news of fear and death. However, these events are so numb to people because people believe there is nothing that can be done, nor do they have room in heart to even try to make changes. Elie Wiesel's Night demonstrates many of the horrendous conditions of the Jews. From being burned alive in the crematories, to being shot right on the spot, the S.S soldiers had no remorse towards the Jews. In spite of their persecution, the Jews showed immense devotion to their religion and remained faithful to their God.
Elie Wiesel was born in Sighet, Romania was he grew up to spend his childhood studying Jewish holy books. In 1944 his family was forced to live in one of two ghettos in Sighet. On May 16th, 1944 Elie and his family were taken to Auschwitz-Birkeua concentration camp. In the book Night, Elie writes about his experiences in the Holocaust when he was just 16 years old. Eliezer's faith in God and practice of his Jewish traditions are shattered by the experiences he had Auschwitz. His journey to the Camp's becomes a journey of faith that takes him from being orthodox and traditional, to being unsure about God and the faith that he has practiced since he was born.
In the novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel the theme of self preservation and loss of identity plays a critical role in the development of Eliezer (Elie Wiesel) throughout the book. As Wiesel suffers through the tragic events of the holocaust, self preservation proves to be more difficult to keep and losing one’s character seems easy. Wiesel’s identity, faith, and his will to live start to fade as he begins to forms a new character, a character who remains silent. Losing identity means losing the values that makes up a character.
In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel the main message is that many people are losing faith in each other and everything. Once someone lose their faith, they lose their faith in God and they start to just give up on what their main focus was. People can start losing their faith once they see things that should be seen. It starts to scare them and their faith is lost. Elie started to slowly lose his faith once he was separated with his mother because he was brought to a place where inhumane things were happening. Once people start to lose their faith, they start doing things that leads to the loss of humanity.
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.
“To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering” (Nietzsche). This quote, said by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, describes the desire to survive that was inside of Elie Wiesel in his story. The book describes Elie’s late teen years when he was sent to a concentration camp by the German government. In the book, he is separated from his whole family except for his old father, and both are put to work inside of the camp. As Elie suffers through the camp, his faith and his life face many tests and trials. There are many instances throughout the book when people die or when somebody loses their faith. The theme of the book Night, written by Elie Wiesel, is survival, as shown by the death of many Jews during the Holocaust, people willing to do anything to survive, and people’s faith not surviving the traumatic experiences of the concentration camps.
Often, the theme of a novel extends into a deeper significance than what is first apparent on the surface. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, the theme of night and darkness is prevalent throughout the story and is used as a primary tool to convey symbolism, foreshadowing, and the hopeless defeat felt by prisoners of Holocaust concentration camps. Religion, the various occurring crucial nights, and the many instances of foreshadowing and symbolism clearly demonstrate how the reoccurring theme of night permeates throughout the novel.
Elie’s faith before being exposed to the concentration camps is apparent and he works hard to strengthen and grow his faith. All throughout Night, Wiesel shows the eminent effect faith has on individual’s actions and attitude. At the beginning of Night, Elie’s faith is a key feature of his lifestyle and attitude. Studying under the wisdom of Moishe the Beadle, Elie can put his faith in retrospect as he says, “In the course of those evenings I became convinced that Moishe the Beadle would help me enter eternity, into that time when question and answer would become one” (Wiesel 5). It is very clear that Elie is very emotionally and physically invested in his faith. Before camp Elie was so eager to expand and connect to his faith in which he becomes, “convinced” that he fully understands his faith proving him to be a devout Jewish boy. Thus because, Moishe the Beadle is helping him “enter eternity” and build his faith. Elie’s whole life revolves
In the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie Wiesel is a young boy who struggles to survive after being forced to live in the brutal concentration camp of Auschwitz. In Auschwitz, death and suffering is rampant, but due to compassionate words and actions from others, Elie is able to withstand these severe living conditions and overcome the risk of death in the unforgiving Auschwitz. As shown through the actions and words of characters in Night, compassion, the sympathetic pity for the suffering or misfortune of others is critical to the human experience because it enables humans to empathize with each other, empathizing which allows us to feel the need to assist others which can often be vital for survival.