Darkness In Elie Wiesel's Night

Joaquin Zapien

Mr. Epstein

English honors 2

April 4, 2017 Night

One very humble and wise man stated, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that”- Martin Luther King, Jr. The desire of inflicting pain while fueled with hatred can take an individual a long way. To interfere in this destructing path an external source must shine a light on the issue. In the genocidal novel Night by elie wiesel, is a recollection of his experience without the shining light coming until the end. Wiesel titled his book night as within it it contains information on the illusion of night, his experience in the dark, and the problems of evil.

To begin with, the symbolic meaning of night is dark.

Wiesel reflects on his experiences in the the concentrations camps and the events that followed. For example, while Elie was in one of the most dangerous concentration camp where he questioned god himself. As Elie saw the carnage of his environment he states, “Where is god now? And I heard a voice within me answer him: Where is he? Here he is- He is hanging here on his gallows” (Wiesel 65). Witnessing the hanging of this young boy did two things for Elie. Elie begins to lose his faith in God as we believe that's a real god would not allow such injustices. God was the person who million turn to for hope other wise seen as light when they are most in need. God not being there puts the millions of prisoners without the slightest light leaving them in the dark and the eternal nights. Besides darkness being a deep mental state it is also a physical state. Elie had to ensure a great amount of pain throughout his journey. For example, Elie and his father had to endure physical punishment, poor living conditions and poor working conditions. Elie has a specific remark about a night’s dinner because “the soup tasted like corpse” (wiesel 65). This was yet another reason why Ellie’s nights were eternal because amidst starvation they were given a small ration of food. Through dehumanizing the prisoners with acts such as feeding them bare minimum, referring to them as “A-7713... From then on, I had no other name”, and

The roots of evil are either logical or evidential problem of evil. For example, the first logical argument is that evil is a necessity in our world. Hank explains the the purpose of evil in a sense that “good can’t exist without its opposite…..You can’t understand the concept of pleasure without experiencing pain first” (Crash Course #13). Hank’s first argument hints that God is aware of the evil and powerful enough to prevent it but chooses not too. The question of why God allows it occur is what the camp prisoners are questioning. A counter argument is that God isn’t good enough to stop it or that there is no God which leaves the prisoners hopeless without a sense of guidance. To explain the existence of a dark force either intentional or natural there is the soul making theodicy. Through John Wicks theodicy Hank explains that “What doesn’t kills us only makes us stronger” (Crash Course #13). In other word evil is present by god will as it toughens you up for life. Except there would be no explanation for the death of millions of jew since they did die before becoming stronger. Evil is a problem as it compromises the freedom of all individual if it is erased because there would no longer be free will. There is no concrete answer for the neglection of god light during the holocaust and most importantly in the concentration