From 1932-45 roughly 6 million Jews perished, all people of deep faith, but what happened to their faith? How did their faith stand in the face of such tragedy? How did it fall? In Elie Wiesel's powerful book Night he shows the different ways that faith is strangled and ripped apart and repaired in a situation of incredible terror and violence like the Holocaust. Everyone has different reactions to violence. Elie’s first reaction is to question is, “Why, but why would I bless [God]? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves? Because in His great might He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of Death?”(67). Elie witnesses horror on a level the world had not seen, let alone a 15 year old child. His first reaction to such a thing is to question how a “merciful” God can do such thing. When criticizing God he also blames it directly on him, he does not say …show more content…
When questioning God, after seeing a particularly awful hanging of a boy, he asks, “When You were displeased by Noah’s generation, You brought down the flood. When Sodom lost Your favor, You caused the heavens to rain down fire and damnation. But look at these men whom You have betrayed, allowing them to be tortured, slaughtered , gassed, and burned, what did they do? They pray they before You! They praise Your name”(68). The first thing to notice is that he uses the word allowed here. Implying that he has reversed his first feelings that God was doing this, not allowing it to happen. Yet, the main thing to notice in this passage is that he begins to see what is happening as a punishment of the Jewish people. He compares it to God bring down the flood on Noah’s generation. He is asking, but what have these 6 million of Your followers done to warrant this torture? This is the next stage of how he views his God in the presence of
I would further label God as guilty by drawing another reference to a less-well known story of God helping the
God has shown to be forgiving as he stops himself from harming the humans. In Edwards words, “The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and it is nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God’s will, that holds it back”. Sinners are on the edge of destruction but God showers his mercies upon them by holding back. God is giving a ray of opportunity by showing his forgiving nature as he has not let them fall into the fire of hell. God is much greater than the sinners and is ready to forgive.
The verse reads: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their
The Use of the Theme “Loss of Faith” in Night The memoir Night, by Elie Wiesel provides insight into the terrors of the Holocaust, a genocide of the Jewish race and has received multiple praises and acclaims. One of the most important aspects of Night that differentiates it from other World War II novels, causing it to receive these praises, is its ability to pull readers in, making them empathize with the characters in the book. Wiesel incorporates the theme of loss of faith in God in order to create this effect, allowing readers to empathize with the traumatic experiences of Holocaust survivors. One example of Wiesel’s use of theme to achieve such an effect is the apparent change in Wiesel’s faith throughout the memoir.
He does not believe that his people should be suffering for no reason. “ Praised be thy Holy Name, for having chosen us to be slaughtered on Thine altar?” (Pg.67) This quote contained the device of imagery. There is a boy who looks at all those people with hope, but then there is
His use of the quote from (Matthew 22:36-40) help him accuse the humanity others hold, and how they could allow their ‘neighbor’ to go through such emotional pains and
The memoir “Night”, by Elie Wiesel provides insight into the terrors of the holocaust, a genocide of the jewish race and is described as “A slim volume of terrifying power” by the New York Times. One of the most important aspect of “Night” that differentes it from other World War II novels and causes it to receive such praise and acclaim is its ability to pull readers in and cause the readers to empathize with the characters in the book. One of the methods by which Wiesel achieves this is through his use of themes, such as the theme of loss of faith in god. Wiesel incorporates the theme of loss of faith in God in order to allow readers to empathize with the traumatic experiences of holocaust survivors. One such example of this is the apparent
He also questions God in many other ways. And later he explains how he doesn’t care if God punished him or not, or he wouldn’t beg for his life.” But now i no longer pleaded in my life for anything. I was no longer to lament. I was the accuser,
Faith Fading with Hope People look to God as the pinnacle of motivation, where people “find rest in God alone, [their] hope comes from him” (Scriptures). When severe calamity and hardships are presented to humans, their faith that their God will protect them weakens. When Eliezer Wiesel, a survivor of the Holocaust and author of the memoir Night, faces the Nazis’ dehumanizing acts that strip him of his faith, the development of how a once “former mystic” turns into a hopeless corpse is presented to the audience (Wiesel 67). Throughout this account, Wiesel implements rhetorical questions as a way to emphasize the theme that when people lose faith, they are not only losing their God, but they are losing their hope for survival.
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
God cannot pardon me if I have done wrong”. “Yet I cannot see my wrong, except in serving a degenerate people.” But it wasn't him that choose to kill, He said that God Need someone for a certain Job.
As for me, I had ceased to pray... I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice” (45). It is apparent here that the effect of the Holocaust on the Jewish people’s faith was delayed on some level. Elie refuses to pray to the God that apparently abandoned him. This is personified when he says he doubts that God has absolute justice.
Some of these survivors never believed in their religion after their experiences. However, for others, it took time for them to retrieve the passionate faith that they once had. In the duration of their time spent at the concentration camps, almost all of the victims questioned
I no longer accepted God’s silence…/I turned that act into a symbol of rebellion, or protest against Him.” (pg.68) “For the first time I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the Eternal, and terrible Master of the Universe, choose to be silent. What was there to thank him for?”
He wants us to forgive. This passage ties very well with another about loving our enemies instead of loathing them. How is it possible to love our enemies? Aren’t we supposed to hate each other?