Night, by Elie Wiesel
Night, by Elie WieselNIGHT
Night, By Elie Wiesel is a devastatingly true story about one man�s witness to the genocide of his own people. Living through the horrifying experiences in the German concentration camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, Elie sees his family, friends and fellow Jews starved, degraded, and murdered. In this essay I will address three important topics expressed throughout the course of the book. First, I will discuss the struggle and eventual loss of religious faith by Elie in his battle to maintain humanity in this de-humanizing environment, and what ultimately enabled him to survive. Second, I will show the established relationship between Elie and his father, and the impact life in the camp had upon it. And finally, give my personal opinion on why Elie Wiesel wrote this book.
One of the main topics in this book is how Elie, a boy of strong religious faith, as well as many Jews lose their faith in God because of the atrocities that take place in the concentration camps. Elie Wiesel lived his early childhood in the town of Transylvania, in Hungary, during the early 1940�s. At a young age Elie took a strong interest in Jewish religion as he spent most of his time studying the Talmud. Eventually he comes across Moshe the Beadle, who would take him under his wing and instruct him more in depth of the ways of the Talmud and cabbala. Through Moshe�s instruction, he is taught to question God for answers. Later Moshe is sent away to a camp and upon his return to Sighet presents the reader with a foreshadowing of what will soon come in the book. Elie recalls, �Moshe had changed�.He no longer talked to me of God or the cabbala, but only of what he had seen.�(4) Thus right away the reader is exposed a loss of religious faith in Moshe, the same loss that will soon plague Elie.
When Elie arrives at Birkenau, the reader sees the first evidence of his loss of faith as he questions God during the selection process. Amid the selection many Jews are separated from their loved ones who are immediately sent to the crematory or burned in large fire pits. Although unaware to him at the time, this is the last Elie will ever see of his mother and sister. For this reason, many Jews are grieving and begin to recite the Kaddish, a Jewish prayer for the dead. Here Elie questions, � Why should I bless his name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent. What had I to thank Him for?�(31) Shortly after, as he marches toward the barracks, Elie witnesses a load of children being dumped into a pit of flames which he labels the �Angel of Death�. At this point the reader sees the diminishing effects the first night of camp...
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