It is well known that the Holocaust could be named one of the most terrible events in world history. People were treated with no remorse and no indication that they were even human. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, he takes the readers on his physical and emotional journey through the holocaust. Wiesel highlights how cruel and inhumane treatment can cause one to be desensitized, lose their faith, and participate in violent actions. Ultimately, Wiesel’s purpose in writing this novel was to emphasize how bearing the cruelty from others can cause one to act out of selfishness rather than thought. The cruelty and inhumanity they received, caused the characters to be desensitized. They lost their morals, especially within their families, and they …show more content…
They began to believe that no God would ever let something as horrible as this happen to all of these people. In the beginning of the novel, Elie was very curious about religion and God, but as he was exposed to everything in the camp he quickly began to question that curiosity. “Why do you pray?” he asked after a moment. Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” (Wiesel 4) This quote demonstrates how curious he was before all of the terrible things happened to him. He felt he needed to pray though he didn't know for sure why. He felt a sort of connection to God and pursuing faith. This quote was included to point out what he thought about before all of the things he went through during the holocaust. As previously stated, a young boy was hanged whilst they were at the camp. This moment had a large effect on everyone. It was also the moment as readers saw the change in the characters. During this moment, everyone witnessing it was questioning where God was, and how he could let something so awful happen to such a young boy. This moment is when Wiesel puts into words their internal thoughts about God, or in their case, lack thereof. “Behind me I heard the same man asking: “for God’s sake, where is God?” And from within me, I heard a voice answer: “Where He is? This is where—hanging here from this gallows…” (Wiesel 65) Elie felt at that moment that God had died with that young boy. To the prisoners of the camp he no longer existed. The way they were treated caused them to lose faith in the God that had previously consumed most of their lives. Losing their faith made them even more prone to break away from everything they had formally known and what had earlier seemed to be normal. Therefore further distancing themselves from people they had loved, and making them lose sight of their original thoughts to work