Losing Hope
“The Germans were already in our town, the Fascists were already in power, the verdict was already out -and the Jews of Sighet were still smiling.” (16). Nobody wants to think that their own country’s government wishes to harm them in anyway. Even though, the Jews were given the facts, they still decided to stay hopeful for the future. After the truth fully starts to affect them, people begin losing hope exponentially until eventually they completely lose prospect. In Elie Wiesel’s book, Night, hope changes the mentality of forlorn prisoners.
Previous to all the loss and misery, the Jews were a hopeful and trusting group of individuals. Any wrongdoings the German’s did, the Jews would assume it was for their wellbeing. “Who knows, they may be sending us away for our own good” (21). Believing they were being sent away for their own sake was their way of coping with the bad news. People would not want to think that their home country was going to send them to cruel work camps for not being of the Nazi’s standards. “The Red Army is advancing with giant strides… Hitler will not be able to
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For many of the Jews, the first sign of losing hope started with criticizing God. “For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?”(33). Eliezer believed that god did not care about inhumanity they were going through. After his near death experience, Eliezer started to lose his optimism. “I could not believe human beings were being burned in our times; the world would never tolerate such crimes… ”(33). The fact of seeing people being killed right in front them really opened their eyes. The first experiences of the concentration camp crushed the spirits of the