Who Is The Human Spirit In Night By Elie Wiesel

The need to forgive and be forgiven is inherent to the human spirit. Perhaps it emanates from human beings’ tendencies to falter or do wrong. Sometimes people do wrong to others or to God depending on their beliefs, and other times people feel that they have been wronged. In this case, forgiveness is a tenet of the human spirit that has been propagated from generation to generation, and whose role in assuring individual peace cannot be underrated. In his memoir Night, Elie Wiesel who is a holocaust survivor depicts the evolution of forgiveness in his spirit by documenting a transition which starts at a point where he is able to ask for forgiveness and to forgive to a point where he questions forgiveness and becomes skeptical about it, and finally

Elie begins questioning the reason why God is unable to help them and his people, and in turn, his ability to forgive and to ask for forgiveness wanes. This is demonstrated when Ellie claims that he can no longer plead for forgiveness as he used to in the past (68). Elie states that, “now, I no longer pleaded for anything. I was no longer able to lament. On the contrary, I felt very strong. I was the accuser, God the accused” (68). This quote indicates clearly that Elie is questioning the whole concept of forgiveness. It demonstrates the in Elie’s mind, God ought not to allow the suffering of people who have done nothing but worship him. Moreover, Elie feels that if he did anything wrong he pleaded for forgiveness but he was not heard. This transition shows that Elie is clearly dissociating himself from the concept of forgiveness. He feels as though he has been subjected to an unforgiving world with unforgiving experiences, and this make him start thinking about forgiveness as something that cannot take away his pain and as something that does not benefit him in any significant way. Forgiveness becomes a greater challenge when Elie perceives his assailants as people who are incapable of empathy and in turn