Research Papers On Night By Elie Wiesel

In the memoir, Night written by Elie Wiesel, Elie experiences many circumstances that cause his relationship with God to differ. Throughout the memoir, Elie describes he is very passionate about his belief in God. However, as the war comes he experiences many things to see how cruel the world can truly be and begins to doubt his God’s capabilities to help. At the beginning of the memoir, when Elie is still at home, he is very devoted to his religion, and his faith in God is strong. Elie states “Why do I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” (Wiesel 4). This shows how he prayed so often and continuously that it's very normal to him and compares it to simple things like living and breathing. Elie finds comfort in prayer

This describes Elie’s thoughts after witnessing the bodies of innocent Jewish children being cremated in front of him. He also doubted why he had been chosen to be alive but not others, and felt a sense of guilt. This horrific experience left Elie in shock and scarred him. It made him lose the faith in God that he once had because how could God let such inhumane events occur? Not only did he lose faith but also became dehumanized and would never be able to go back to the person he once was before. Toward the end of the memoir, Elie still finds himself going back to his religion and says “And in spite of myself, a prayer formed inside me, a prayer to this God in whom I no longer believed in” (Wiesel 91). Elie has come to accept that he doesn't want to believe in God, but deep down he still does. He physically doesn't, but emotionally and internally he still has that connection with God even if he doesn't want to. He will always go back to God because Elie knows he still has faith in him even if he doesn't want to admit it. He finds comfort with God, but after experiencing cruel moments in the Holocaust he finds himself questioning his