Direct Characterization In Night By Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel went from this scared 15 year old boy to this brave young man. In the beginning of the book Elie says “My hand tightened its grip on my father. All I could think of was not to lose him. Not to remain alone” (Wiesel 30). This shows Elie is terrified of what is going to happen to him and his dad when they pass through the selection. He sees the flames and smells the burning flesh. All he can think about is being burned to death. At the end of the book Elie keeps telling his father to hold on a little longer that everything will be better. Elie says “I tried to tell him that it was not over yet, that we would be going home together, but he no longer wanted to listen to me. He could no longer listen to me” (Wiesel 108). Elie’s father

In the beginning Elie wished to study Kabbalah. Elie spent many nights in the synagogue, just praying. In the book Elie says “We spoke that way almost every evening, remaining in the synagogue long after all the faithful had gone, sitting in the semi-darkness where only a few half-burnt candles provided a flickering light” (Wiesel 5). In this quote Elie talks about sitting in the synagogue for hours until dark with Moishe the Beadle and how Elie and Moishe the Beadle prayed together every night in the synagogue. Later on in the story Elie starts to acquire a grudge against God considering he thinks God isn't helping the Jews that are stuck in the camps. Elie says “Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves? Because He kept six crematoria working day and night, including Sabbath and the Holy Days? Because in His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death?” (Wiesel 67). Eliezer tries to find out what this new God he discovered is all about. In the face of what Elie sees as God’s indifference to suffering, Elie seems to determine that God is not a someone that he can praise