Coming Of Age In Eliezer Wiesel's Night

Night and Persepolis both share the theme coming of age. Each of the main characters go through a tragedy that takes away their childhood and introduces them to adulthood. For Marji the war, oppression of women, and her religion changes her perspective on life at a young age. Eliezer shares the change in perspective on religion as Marji does, but his way of maturing was by going through the Holocaust and experiencing life or death situations. His ability to keep stay calm in alarming situations and fight for his dad brings him away from his childhood and closer to adulthood.
In Night, Eliezer overcame the weight of losing all of his family at first and then later on seeing his father suffer. For a teenager that is a brutal situation to be

Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever” (Wiesel 34). The detail he put into his experience brings the reader to a full understanding of just how dreadful Eliezer’s conditions are. After getting through a couple more selections Eliezer had caught the officer in the barn with a girl and started to burst out into laughter. The officer saw him and afterward beat Eliezer senselessly. As Eliezer was getting beat by the whip he states, “I no longer felt anything except the lashes of the whip” (Wiesel 57). Eliezer learned to hide his emotions and put his mind over matter. He had became numb to everything that is happening around him, and being beaten while keeping quiet is not an easy thing to do for a child. Being able to just stay there and endure the pain shows Eliezer’s growth overtime. Religion is a big part of Eliezer’s life, and throughout the book his perspective about God changes due to his maturity. Before the Holocaust, he thinks God will help you whenever

Getting through a war is hard enough and maintaining your childhood at the same time is not an easy concept for anyone to do. Marji hears her parents talking about the revolution and instead of just being the average teenager and not caring she goes into reading books to figure out information. Figuring out what is going on within her society and the world is a clear characteristic of coming of age because at that age all kids care about is toys. After getting yelling at Marji for bullying her mother points out the ignorance that the other kids: “My God! He repeats what they tell him” (Satrapi 46). Marji’s mother is points this out to show that Marji must not be ignorant and repeat what her parents say, but she must read and come up with her own opinions. Religion is another factor that comes into consideration when giving examples of coming of age for Marji. Similarly to Eliezer, Marji starts with strong faith towards God. Throughout the book she distances herself from God. She shows her change from wanting to be a prophet, to wanting God to just help her get through this hard time. This is shown when she starts to scream at God and say, “Shut up you! Get out of my life!! I never want to see you again!” (Satrapi 70). She is pushing God out of her life and its changing her perspective on life as she goes on through the book. At this time Mali and her family had to come