Examples Of Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

Wiesel and other Jews in the concentration camps had many warning of what was to come, especially from the previous survivors of the Nazi camps. In fact, the new arrivals, when they arrived in camp, were warned right away, by some older men, “‘You’ve had done better to have hanged yourselves where you were than come here. Didn’t you know what was in store for you at Auschwitz?...Do you see that chimney over there? … Over there- That’s where you're going to be taken’” (Wiesel 28). This warning let to revolt by a few sturdy young fellows among the Jews, but extinguished in a very short time, when the older ones begged their children not to do anything foolish and to never lose faith. (Wiesel 29). Despite the warnings, the Jews did not respond

The Wiesel seen at the start of the book is a completely different person by the end of the story. What changes the most about him, however, is internal: his faith. Elie’s faith slowly deteriorates during his stay at the camp, due to all the inhumane actions he witnesses. However, he loses his faith completely when he sees all the Jewish prisoners gather together on the eve of Rosh Hashanah to pray to the Lord. Here, Wiesel says, “Why, but why should I bless Him? In every fiber, I rebelled... I stood amid that praying congregation, observing it like a stranger” (Wiesel 64-65). In an act of rebellion, Elie even refuses to fast on Yom Kippur. He accuses God of creating all this inhumanity that exists and blames Him for the existence of the terrifying concentration camps. In his earlier years, Elie had seeked long and hard in order to find himself a master in the studies of the cabbala. In Night, Elie wrote, “‘ There aren’t any cabbalists at Sighet,’ my father would repeat. He wanted to drive the notion out of my head… I found a master for myself, Moshe the Beadle” (Wiesel 2). The Elie at the end of the book contrasts greatly with the Elie at the start: a religious young boy, who devoted very much to his studies of the cabbala and praising the name of God. Overall, the horrors he’s seen in the concentration camps, from the babies in the crematory to the hangings of innocent people made

“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath the silent blue sky...Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never” (Wiesel 32). In this passage, Elie Wiesel creates a mood full of anger and rage. By using the word never again and again eight times, he strongly emphasizes his determination to keep the memory going, and by using descriptions of the unforgivable acts committed, he wants his audience to become riled up and outraged at the actions of the Nazis. He shares his anger with his audience in this passage though a powerful selection of words. Wiesel uses the phrase “never shall I forget” to express the anger and the determination he felt to prevent events like such from ever happening