Meaning Of Suffering In Night By Elie Wiesel

1597 Words7 Pages

The Holocaust, a deadly event that killed a large number of Jews, an event that killed innocent people. The suffering the Jews endure is deadly and cruel, but do the suffering bring meaning into their lives? Do the pain they endure bring purpose into their painful lives? Victor E. Frankl once said, “The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails… even under the most difficult circumstances -to add a deeper meaning to his life” (Frankl). Night, a memoir written by Elie Wiesel describes his life during the Holocaust. The memoir follows Elie’s journey as he loses his faith in God and humanity. Through all the suffering and lost of loved ones, Elie comes to realization that his faith and life are put into his hands. He …show more content…

Throughout Elie’s time in the Holocaust, he loses all his innocence, stops believing in God and humanity, loses his father and loses himself. Even though he suffers through a mass of traumatic events during his time in the concentration camp, the suffering brings meaning into his life and shapes him into the person that he is today. Flames are the definition of terror and hate. The burning of the innocents exposes the reality of the world and brings horror into Elie’s life, and it also causes him to hate the Germans even more than he did before. The flames end their loved ones lives, and is also a place where people can end their sufferings. This situation brings Elie into the reality of the world, the reality of how the Germans treat the Jews. When Elie first arrive at the concentration camp, …show more content…

His father is the only person he can depend on. He is the reason Elie stays in the camp for so long without giving up. Towards the end of the train ride, Elie’s father falls asleep, but Elie mistaken it as his father’s death, Elie thinks, “Suddenly the evidence overwhelmed me: there was no longer any reason to live, any reason to fight” (99). Elie’s father is the one who keeps him alive and striving for freedom every day. Elie has to be strong for his father, who is getting weaker day by day. Not only his father is there for Elie, the only reason his father is living is because of his son. They are in a mutualistic relationship where they both depend on each other to survive in the camp. Without his father, he will no longer have purpose, he will give up everything. This is true because after his father’s death, Elie can no longer find his soul. After Elie transfers to the hospital he infers, “All there is left of him is the shell that looks like him. His thoughts, his personality, and soul are gone, “From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me” (115). The pain and severe labor steal everything that is a part of Elie, the Elie that is outgoing with a great personality, and believes in God and his capability. The corpse symbolizes spiritual death after losing his faith in God and justice. The young little boy who is happy and fascinated about God and life is no longer there. The