Sherwood 1
Ian Sherwood
Ms. Totten
Writing 2022/2023
10 May 2023
Elie Wiesel’s Character Development in Night
Among one of the most critical novels in recent history, Elie Wiesel’s Night exposes the nightmarish inner workings of the events that took place throughout the Holocaust. Throughout these events, a young Elie Wiesel goes through many changes both physically and mentally during the events of this novel. We see these changes in Elie’s inner dialogue and decision-making over the course of the novel in his choice of words, actions, and beliefs. We see an example of this in the very first chapters of the book, where young Elie is aspiring to be a student of Talmud, trying to become a learned scholar in the teachings of the Kabbalah.
In starting, young Elie’s childlike innocence and intrigue are evident throughout the novel's early pages. His dedication to studying the words of the Kabbalah is shown with great passion in his years
…show more content…
First of all, to please my father who had forbidden me to do so. And then, there was no longer any reason for me to fast. I no longer accepted God's silence” (69). At the end of the novel, Elie’s father grows sick and cold, eventually passing. After Elie learns of the death of his father, his mind runs blank, he becomes idle to all except for his animal needs like food and shelter. At this point, Elie is a husk, dreaming only of being able to sustain himself as seen in the quote “I spent my days in total idleness. With only one desire: to eat. I no longer thought of my father, or my mother. From time to time, I would dream. But only about soup, an extra ration of soup” (Wiesel 113) from the book’s final