To culminate the semesters worth of thoughts and readings of the relationship between religion and literature I decided to analyze the contents of the book Night by Elie Wiesel. This book is an account of Elie’s life in Nazi Germany. It addressed his inner most thoughts as a young man who’s life suddenly changes during the reign of Adolf Hitler. In the following paragraphs I have explored a few religious aspects of Night in relation to two of the required readings and a discussion post assigned to this class.
The book, Sacred Terror by Douglas Cowan explains the relationship found between horror films and religion. Although Night is not a piece of fiction or a film it does retain some of the aspects Cowan has found. Chapter 5 of Sacred Terror
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Cowan states that individuals utilize religion predominantly to “negotiate fear”. When Elie Wiesel arrives at Auschwitz he is separated from his family. A selection takes place inside the concentration camp as the notorious Dr. Mengele decides the fate of Elie and his father. Prisoners were told to get into one of two lines left or right. One meant work the other was a painful death in the creamatorium. With indifference he pointed his baton to the left. In Elie direction he witness a truck unload babies into the flames and beside it lied a large pit for adults. His father whispers some words of prayers to which Elie grows angry. He doesn’t understand why God would allow such atrocities towards another human being exist. Coming closer to the pit with each passing second Elie reluctantly whispers, “Yisgadal, veyiskadash, shmey raba … May his name be exalted and sanctified …". Elie is consciously aware that in front of him lies a painful death. Although the reader is informed that Elie is doubting and questioning his God and faith, the sight of death is enough to search for religion for comfort. The fear in his heart was strong. Growing up as a religious child Elie drew upon his faith to calm …show more content…
From this passage an individual can deduce that although God may not always be present his action are present in bring out the truth and serving justice when the need arrives. Elie Wiesel approaches God with a different perspective after witnessing the injustices in the concentration camps. He professes that he still believes in the existence of the Almighty but, is uncertain of God’s absolute justice (Wiesel, 45). Just like Holmes, Elie does not deny the reality of God however, his view of God’s persona starts to diverge. Unlike Holmes, associating God with justice seems incomprehensible to Elie when attending the unrighteous death of family, friends, and neighbors because racial ideology targeted a certain group of people as the scapegoat to their
1. After the hanging of a child, Elie hears someone say, “‘For God’s sake, where is God?’ And from within me, I heard a voice answer: ‘Where He is? This is where—hanging here from this gallows…’ That night, the soup tasted of corpses” (Wiesel 65). Though optimistic at first, Elie Wiesel, along with many others at the concentration camps, began to lose faith in God.
Eliezer Wiesel loses his confidence in god, family and humankind through the encounters he has from the Nazi death camp. Eliezer loses confidence in god. He battles physically and rationally forever and no more accepts there is a divine being. "Never should I overlook those minutes which killed my god and my spirit and turned my fantasies to dust..."(pg 32). Elie endeavored to spare himself and asks god commonly to bail him and take him out of his hopelessness.
Change. Change is an ordinary process in life that allows humans to evolve as individuals, societies, and as a species. Yet, not all changes are the same. Not all changes are equal. The effect of getting a new job is different than the effect of losing a job.
The autobiographical novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel is about a very dark time in history. For the main character, Eliezer, being taken away to concentration camps in Germany (Auschwitz) was a nightmare. As a young boy, Eliezer was incredibly devoted to this faith, Judaism. But after seeing the horrendous acts that his God allowed to happen, he has lost his belief in any kind of God. People view religion as a light, a brightness of being saved by following the instructions of a divine power.
The heart wrenching and powerful memoir “Night” by Elie Wiesel depicts Elie’s struggle through the holocaust. It shows the challenges and struggles Elie and people like him faced during this mournful time, the dehumanization; being forced out of their homes, their towns and sent to nazi concentration camps, being stripped of their belongings and valuables, being forced to endure and witness the horrific events during one of history’s most ghastly tales. In “Night” Elie does not only endure a physical journey but also a spiritual journey as well, this makes him question his determination, faith and strength. This spiritual journey is a journey of self discovery and is shown through Elie’s struggle with himself and his beliefs, his father
In Night, fifteen-year-old Elie Wiesel is forced to stare into the wicked heart of mankind and endure unbearable physical and emotional pain. Being taken from his home and being separated from everyone in his family, except his father, he becomes a prisoner at Auschwitz concentration camp; during this time, Elie witnesses first-hand the evils of human nature. In the book, Elie described in excruciating detail his experiences and brings attention to the brutality of the Nazi regime. Upon reading this book, one question that emerges is what motivates an individual to do such acts of horrendous evils? While no one but Adolf Hitler and his henchmen can answer this question, the story of his encounter with Aryanism, Social Darwinism, and other occult
The Holocaust was one of the most tragic events in history. It just so happened to be the cause of six million deaths. While there are countless beings who experienced such trauma, it is impossible to hear everyone's side of the story. However, one man, in particular, allowed himself to speak of the tragedies. Elie Wiesel addressed the transformation he underwent during the Holocaust in his memoir, Night.
Imagine believing so strongly in something and then being let down, or thinking that you were wrong to believe. In Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie felt as though he had lost his religion and beliefs. “I believed profoundly. During the day I studied the Talmud, and at night I ran to the synagogue to weep of the destruction of the Temple,” (Wiesel, 14). This quote shows how strongly he believed before experiencing the hardships of the Holocaust
Elie Wiesel saw no sense at being and keeping faithfulness to God. A book of life and death does not rests in the hands of God, but in the hands of the executioner. Author expressed himself from leaving his ancestral faith, showed hatred referring to the Creator, whom he loved and worshiped before finding himself in the camp. He (God) became a stranger; sometimes considered him an enemy. Meanwhile, religious life in Auschwitz was very intense, despite the enormity of humiliation, slave labor and fear for survival during selection to the gas chambers.
As time carried on, Eliezer’s faith and connection to God died. It was too much for him to believe that his once-beloved God had abandoned them. “Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless him? ... Because he caused thousands of children to burn in his mass graves?
Elie, once so faithful, is one of the first to lose faith in God due to the horrific sights he sees. After witnessing the bodies of Jewish children being burned, Wiesel writes, “Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever” (34). He quite understandably has begun to doubt that his God is with him following the sight of the supposedly chosen people’s bodies being unceremoniously burned. Elie, though, was perhaps not a member of the masses with this belief; in fact, some men were able to hold on to their beliefs despite these horrendous sights. Also near the middle of the book, Wiesel reflects on the faith of other Jews in the face of these events, saying that “some of the men spoke of God: His mysterious ways, the sins of the Jewish people, and the redemption to come.
Mortifying. Earth shattering. Horrific. The memoir Night by Elie Wiesel tells of his experience in the horrific concentration camp Auschwitz. Elie Wiesel was a 15 year old Jewish boy when his entire family was moved to a concentration camp.
In conclusion, questioning whether or not to believe in God after or during a naturaldisaster, losing faith in God, and people 's judgement of God 's power to allow people to die eventhough they pray to him. The three main points lead to the thesis showing how Elie questionedGod’s power. Elie Wiesel from Night is going through tough times questioning his religion inGod for letting innocent
The book "Night" has an incredible author than knows how to create a sense of excitement, suspense, and climax. Elie Wiesel has been pushed to the brink of his faith. While being contained on concentration camps, he was forced to give up his parents and belongings. Seeing innocent men and women being killed without any of the graves having headstones or any prayers being said. Striped of his pride and joy Elie slowly loses his faith in god.
Imagine believing so strongly in something and then being let down, or thinking that you were wrong even to believe. In Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie felt as though he had lost his religion and belief in God. We learned how strong his beliefs were when he says,“I believed profoundly. During the day I studied the Talmud, and at night I ran to the synagogue to weep of the destruction of the Temple,” (Wiesel, 14).