The Role Of Faith In Elie Wiesel's Night

The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?” (Wiesel 33). This quote demonstrates the idea that Elie is beginning to grow angry with God, and is beginning to stray from his once extremely religious life. In the article “Holocaust and the Death of God: A Study of Elie Wiesel’s Night”, it is argued that this is the first time that Elie realizes that he is “terribly alone in the world without God” (Mehrotra & Vats 166) Nitisha Mehrotra and Naresh K. Vats would also argue that although Elie appears to resent God and his religion, this decision was not easy for him. Elie strove to be someone who would never renounce his faith, yet when faced with treacherous conditions and harsh persecution Elie found it growing more and more difficult to keep his faith in

Forgive, not because they deserve forgives, but because you deserve peace. It’s not easy to stop blaming someone’s fault, especially for someone who do wrong to us. In the book The Sunflower written by Simon Wiesenthal, a survivor of the Holocaust during World War II, he described his conflict with Karl, a dying Nazi soldier who killed many innocent Jews and begging for forgiveness for his outrageous crime at the end of his life. At the end of this sad and tragic episode, Simon did not response to Karl’s request directly; instead he left us a tough question: “What should you have done?” Based on what Karl had done during World War II and his repentance, each person might have their own point of view about where should we draw the line of forgiveness.

The last thing Oedipus wanted to consider was him being the man in the prophecy, but in this moment it was confirmed. He is appalled that so many people knew for so long yet he was blindsided by his acts of hubris. He is horrified by the fact that he actually murdered his own father and wed his mother. Oedipus felt so outraged and disgusted he had no other choice but to perform self

With a dark tone and a completely contrasting black background compared to the white seen throughout the novel, the burden of his family’s past that he continues to carry is understood. The image of Art wearing concentration camp clothing allows readers to recognize how connected he feels to his father’s experiences in the Holocaust. The only other time Art’s true feelings are expressed is when he accuses his father of being a “murderer” (Spiegelman 159) for destroying his mother Anja’s diaries. This shows a true loathing towards his father that has not been lessened even though these diaries would bring back awful memories to his father. Without always knowing Art’s feelings it is difficult to relate to and feel the passion for his second generation trauma.

Elie Wiesel, the author of the novel Night writes his own personal accounts of experiencing the Holocaust through the character Eliezer. Eliezer and his father rely on one another to survive through the Holocaust. Together they encounter the cruelty of the Nazis, the lack of compassion from the prisoners, as well as the difficulty of simply surviving. They remain strong together unlike other father-son relationships seen in the novel. A majority of the prisoners gravitate towards self preservation while Eliezer chooses to remain with his father.

The crematorium did not involve them looking death in the face, but with the gallows they were dehumanized because they could not look away from the facts that life is not fair and just, and that their beliefs should be doubted. When the young pipel with the angel looking face was condemned to die this idea grew. As the people were watching the boy about to die they wondered aloud, “[w]here is merciful God, where is He,” and “[w]here He is? This is where...hanging here from these gallows”(Weisel, 64-65). The Jews’ faith and beliefs in justice and a God who has a plan to save them and do right by them evaporized when the young pipel was killed.

This book also goes a lot deeper than just the story of the Holocaust. It explains what goes through Eliezer’s mind when he thinks about the faith he has in god. Lastly, this book shows that the loss of hope was the death of many. Hope and faith gave the prisoners a reason to keep living, giving them the idea that they have a chance to make it out. This is an example of hope being brought to the prisoners in the concentration camps: “During these last few nights, we had heard the guns in the distance” (44).

He replied, “ What else could I look for, being what I am, and leading such a life of mine… Hester, I am most miserable” (Hawthorne 166). It is very noticeable that Dimmesdale is sorrowful for what he had done. Dimmesdale knew that he, a part of church, could not be known for such a horrible sin. He is doing so terrible that he is physically weakening. The shame is ruining his life and actually, he even died after he finally confessed his sin.

(vs. 18-20) Jealousy and any sin will take you further into evil than you ever imagine. Notice their first action was to strip him of his coat. (vs. 23) Could jealousy ever make you feel like killing someone? Everyday people commit murder for such a reason. In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus reveals that hatred in a person’s heart is the same as the sin of murder in someone’s heart.

No human is safe from the temptation of sin, or the judgement of God. When asked for one final time, as Mr. Hooper lay on his deathbed, why he wore the veil for so long, Mr. Hooper replies that he sees a black veil on everyone’s face. He believes that everyone lives their lives in a state of sin, and that the veil is a vain attempt to hide sins from each other. By physically representing this belief onto his own face, Mr. Hooper became a powerful figure within the community. The veil struck fear into the congregation, with people’s own sins being reflected onto him.