Loss Of Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

Many people throughout the world hold religion and beliefs close to them, but how many of them stay true to their faith when innocent people are dying all around them. You and many others might question what terrible things must have been done for any of you to deserve this, or if there will be a savoir to rescue you all. These were the thoughts of many in the concentration camps of Auschwitz. Night is a Memoir of Elie Wiesel written in 1956 about his survival of these camps and the struggles he has faced. Wiesel shows how hope and belief can be shredded by strife and struggle for survival. He also illustrates Elie's gradual loss of faith and eventually bitterness towards his God. He also shows the strength that comes from hope and belief.

All the prisoners had strong beliefs throughout their life, and this was used to give them hope for a better future. Elie was working in the warehouse like the other Jews when he was abruptly beaten by the Idek for no discernible reason, the reality to many in the camps. As he crawled into a corner to bring himself together, a French girl came to help him recover. She spoke words of hope, saying to him, “Bite your lips little brother… Don’t cry. Keep your anger, your hate, for another day, for later. The day will come but not now… Wait. Clench your teeth and wait…” (Wiesel 53). These words were of reassurance and gave him hope moving forward to keep surviving and pushing past the days. The phrases “Clench your teeth” and “Bite your lips” are both actions done when trying to endure pain, showing us and Elie that there will be more conflict and pain in the future, but to not act on impulse and anger. Instead, just to wait for the day of salvation, of

As the Day of Atonement approaches for the Jews in the camps, they debate whether they should fast and hold true to their faith or continue to eat and push away from the tests of God. Elie asks himself, “Yom Kippur. The Day of Atonement. Should we fast? The question was hotly debated. To fast could mean a more certain, more rapid death. In this place, we were always fasting. It was Yom Kippur year-round. But there were those who said we should fast precisely because it was dangerous to do so. We needed to show God that even here, locked in hell, we were capable of singing His praises.” (Wiesel 69). In the end he did not fast to please his father for he had forbidden Elie to do so, but also as an act of defiance against God. Elie could not accept Gods silence to the cruelty of the camps any longer. As he describes it, “I felt a great void opening” (Wiesel 69), as his beliefs are stripped from him and his faith had shattered. Later we see Elie lying in the infirmary after having his leg operated on. There were rumors flowing through the camp that The Red Army was racing towards Buna. The thought of freedom gives the people of the camp hope, but a sick man lying next to Elie tells him not to be deluded, that Hitler will kill all the Jews before the clock strikes twelve. Elie exploded and asked him why he should believe a word he says. The sick man