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Mother Teresa once known as a living saint was acknowledged for her devout faith and selfless actions for the poor. She dedicated her life to the Catholic religion as did Elie to Judaism. However, like Wiesel she had periods of time where she questioned and lost her faith. In the memoir Night, author, Elie Wiesel, originally had a strong sense of faith in many components of his life; however he began to lose these beliefs due to the dehumanization in which he and others endured. In the beginning his faith was particularly strong for the major components of his life, nonetheless, his faith for each one of these; his God, his father and himself declined dramatically. In the beginning, Elie’s faith for his God, his father and himself could been …show more content…
Firstly, due to the harsh conditions that the Jews experienced they were becoming increasingly feeble. Elie realized that, “every day, [his] father was getting weaker. His eyes were watery, his face the color of dead leaves” (Wiesel 107). Elie’s father, Shlomo, found it harder to keep striving for survival, while undergoing the constant unbelievable acts of dehumanization, which lead Elie to lose faith in his own father's survival. Secondly, The block elder pulled Elie aside to speak to him about his father, he told him, “Stop giving your ration of bread and soup to your old father. You cannot help him anymore…[it is] too late”(Wiesel 110). After thinking about what the block elder had told him for a short time Elie claimed, “He was right, I thought deep down, not daring to admit it to myself”(Wiesel 111). The tables had very much turned, originally Elie was depending on his father, but now Shlomo had become completely dependant on his son for survival in the harsh conditions which they inhabited and tolerated, which pushed Elie to lose his faith in him. André Neher, a Jewish philosopher, views the situation as “An Anti-Akeda: not a father leading his son to be sacrificed, but a son guiding, dragging, carrying to the altar an old man who no longer has the strength to continue”(Fine 102). Each of Neher’s reasons; guiding, dragging and carrying an old man played …show more content…
Not long after they arrived at Auschwitz, Elie began to lose faith in himself. After only observing the horrors of what was occurring, Elie had no desire to strive for survival, he was already prepared to die, and wanted to get it over with. He thought to himself, “I could not believe that human beings were being burned...If that is true, then I don't want to wait. I'll run into the electrified barbed wire” (Wiesel 33). Once a very self motivated individual, Elie now has no wish to fight for his life. Elie, just a boy at the time had his hopes and dreams taken away from him leaving him with no faith in himself. He thought to himself, “The student of Talmud, the child I was, had been consumed by the flames. All that was left was a shape that resembled me”(Wiesel 37). Elie realized that he no longer possessed the drive in which he had in Sighet. As Jews were no longer adequate enough to even possess a name they were required to receive numbers. Elie stated, “Three [veteran] prisoners tattooed numbers on our left arms. I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name”(Wiesel 42). Elie being told that he is not even worthy of a name but only a number, created a huge decline in Elie’s faith in himself as these humans were fundamentally being treated like animals. Elie once being such a self inspired and motivated individual was completely barbarized and lost all faith he once
Self-sufficiency was encouraged throughout the concentration camps, therefore Elie was forced to grow up and leave his innocence behind. Because of this self-reliance, many started to view their friends and family as a burden rather than a motivation.
At the beginning of the book, Elie mentioned that his father, Shlomo, was admired and respected by all the family members. Outside the family, “The Jewish community of Sighet held him in highest esteem” (Wiesel 4). Through the first few days in the concentration camps, Elie had relied on his father’s presence and protection to get him through his daily life. He was dependent on him as evident during the initial selection when he states that “My hand ti...
However, there were warnings by some people that Jewish people were being deported and killed. Although no one believes these warnings, Elie and his family are taken to a ghetto where they have no food. After being in the ghetto, Elie and his father were separated from Elie’s mother and sister because of selection and were placed in cattle cars where they had no room. They are taken to Auschwitz where they suffer from hunger, beatings, and humiliation from the guards which causes Elie’s father to become weak. By now Elie has lost his faith in God because of all he has been through.
One main way the concentration camps dehumanized Elie and his fellow prisoners was through the stripping of their identities. They also do not use the prisoners names, choosing instead to call them by number. “The three ‘veteran’ prisoners, needles in hand, tattooed numbers on our left arms. I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name.”(p. 42). Elie was not treated as a human being with a name and an identity, but as a thing, a gear in a machine. The prisoners also face many other examples of dehumanization that eventually degrade their will to live and to go on. All the terrible things they’ve seen weigh heavy on them, and they begin to lose their hope and their faith. Early on, Elie goes past a cremation pit and sees babies being thrown
One minute Elie Wiesel was sitting at home enjoying time with his family then, all of as sudden, he was forced out of his own home and on his was to a death camp with tons of other people just like him. What was he going to do in order to survive? How would he overcome the physical and mental challenges that this horrible death camp will bring? In the beginning of the novel, Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie turned to studying the Kabbalah and studying his God. Throughout the novel, we see parts where Elie’s faith begins to slip and he questions why, why is God doing this to him and others in the Auschwitz camp. The author wants his readers to see the changes the camp on his religious beliefs. In Night, Elie Wiesel uses tone, diction, and repetition to illustrate the loss of faith in Elie.
...ith his near-death experiences that cause him trauma. As he and his father invert roles, and Elie becomes the bread-winning patriarch of the bunch, obligated to tending and making sure his father is fed properly, Elie’s loss of innocence and childhood evaporate with his restoration of faith in humanity. He learns that among the prisoners, fending for their own individual weight is the only way to survive. Separate from Elie and his father’s relationship throughout, fathers and sons collide, and friends betray other friends. But Elie’s own weight comes from his father, and yet when he refuses to betray him also, Elie’s own bravery reveals itself, making him the key survivor out of all of them. While he chooses to battle out his conscience to decipher these decisions to survive for his family or for he himself, he gains courage, and the courage to oblige to his faith.
The SS officers, doctors, and soldiers from the Kapo seen the Jews as “prisoners” and “experimental trials”. After a few days in Auschwitz, Elie, his dad, and some of the other Jews that survived the “selection” are told to line up. Three of the “veteran” prisoners start to bring some various medical instruments down the line. As they passed by the table with the instruments, the Jews are tattooed, stripped of their identity, and left with nothing but a number to be identified by. Weisel implies that their humanity and individuality was taken when he says, “I became A-7713. After that I had no other name” (51). There is a certain importance that comes with a name; it shows who you are and what makes you unique. These factors should never be taken away from
In the final moments of Night, Elie has been broken down to only the most basic ideas of humanity; survival in it of itself has become the only thing left for him to cling to. After the chain of unfortunate events that led to his newfound solitude after his father’s abrupt death, Elie “thought only to eat. [He] thought not of [his] father, or [his] mother” (113). He was consumed with the ideas of survival, so he repeatedly only expressed his ideas of gluttony rather than taking the time to consider what happened to his family. The stress of survival allocated all of Elie’s energy to that cause alone. Other humanistic feelings like remorse, love, and faith were outcast when they seemed completely unimportant to his now sole goal of survival. The fading of his emotions was not sudden mishap though; he had been worn away with time. Faith was one of the most prominent key elements in Elie’s will to continue, but it faded through constant. During the hanging of a young boy Elie heard a man call to the crowd pleading, “Where is merciful God, where is He?” (64). It snapped Elie’s resolve. From this point on, he brought up and questioned his faith on a regular basis. Afterwards, most other traits disappeared like steam after a fire is extinguished. Alone in the wet embers the will to survive kept burning throughout the heart ache. When all else is lost, humans try to survive for no reason other than to survive, and Wiesel did survive. He survived with mental scars that persisted the ten long years of his silence. Even now after his suffering has, Elie continues to constantly repeat the word never throughout his writing. To write his memoir he was forced to reopen the lacerations the strains of survival left inside his brain. He strongly proclaims, “Never shall I forget that night...Never shall I forget the smoke...Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the
People never realized that, during the Holocaust, many Jews struggled to maintain their faith in God. So, how were they able to overcome countless outbreaks that occurred in their lives? Elie Wiesel, one of the few surviving Jews, demonstrates in his book Night, that many Jews struggled to keep their faith in God after they believed that he abandoned them in concentration camps to be dealt with by the Germans. Elie Wiesel uses the change in Eliezer's faith throughout the book Night to show that no matter how doubtful one feels about their beliefs, they should never give up hope for survival.
Could you ever imagined losing something that you have known for so long? Well, the main character in Night by Elie Wiesel, demonstrates losing religious faith while facing deadly challenges presented to him.
Eliezer’s relationship with his father is greatly emphasized as a motif within the book. Elie emphasizes the central idea of his relationship with his father. For instance, he asserts, “I wanted to see where they were sending my father. If he went to the right, I would go after him...”(29) In other words, he is willing to go to the right, with his father, to be executed and not face the future alone. His main priority is to care of his father, in a time of cruelty. An example occurs late in the novel when his father is weak: “...don't give your ration of bread and soup to your old father. There's nothing you can do for him...” (105) For the sake of himself, Elie is willing to give up his meals to keep his father alive, to
When World War 2 started, Elie Wiesel was a young boy in Sighet, Transylvania. Elie has begun to lose faith in man, and in his God which he looked up to for everything. There are multiple occurrences and obstacles in what is going on in his life that lead to him lose faith. Furthermore, the different types of experiences are what shape him to what he is in the end.
Rabbi Eliahou’s son goes missing after the long march and the Rabbi asks Elie if he’s seen him. Elie says he didn’t see him, but then he remembers, “ But then I remembered something else: his son had seen him losing ground, sliding back to the rear of the column. He had seen him. And he had continued to run in front, letting the distance between them become greater” (Wiesel 91). His son didn’t want to fall behind when the Rabbi started slowing down, so he sped up to not get shot or trampled. Elie is told to eat his dad’s rations so he can get double the rations. Elie agrees even though he feels guilty about it, “ He was right, I thought deep down, not daring to admit it to myself. Too late to save your old father… You could have two rations of bread, two rations of soup” ( Wiesel 111). Because he’s so hungry and desperate to get food, Elie considers taking his dad’s food. At some point Elie would never be able to imagine anyone ever doing anything like that. Once Elie’s father finally does die, Elie is relieved, “ I did not weep. It pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience I might have found something like: Free at last!” ( Wiesel 112) As much as Elie loved and needed his father, taking care of him took a toll on Elie. He thought that he should focus on his own
“From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me” (Wiesel 115). Eliezer Wiesel wrote the last statement of his accounts with a meaningful tone. He drifted between life and death during his extensive journey. Before his numerous encounters of adversities, he was always looking up to God for the right answer, following in his father’s successful footsteps, and perceiving the world as a constant place of comfort and security. In Eliezer Wiesel’s memoir, he examines how his own view of religion, his father, and the world around him changes as he faces the cruel truth of reality.
One wouldn’t expect faith, or the idea of it, to be as volatile as it was in chapter five of Night. This chapter highlighted two examples of losing faith in G-d, but while that loss left Elie Wiesel without the ability to believe in anything, it brought someone he described as a faceless neighbor to devote all his faith entirely to one man: Adolf Hitler.