andy

__MY NIGHT ESSAY__


 * __Does Elie’s faith change throughout night?__**

As a young boy, Elie Wiesel was a devout religious Jew. He took pride in his faith and beliefs; he lived in a safe Jewish community, but one day the German’s came to take over the community, from then Elie’s life changed and by the and of the havoc and mayhem Elie’s faith had changed severely and so had his life. At the beginning of the story Elie took pride in his religion “By day I studied Talmud, and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the disruption of the temple.” (Pg3). he would preach and pray everyday, when the Germans came and took over faith, hope and strength, and his father were all he had, Elie and his father were separated from Elie’s mum, and sister and were sent to a concentration camp. During his first night Elie had changed “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself" (pg.32). During the first night in the camp he had already lost some faith in his god (his religion). As Elie and his father spent more days in the camp, the days never got any brighter and the nights just kept on getting darker, as the days and time grew, Elie’s faith had changed more and more. As each day went buy Elie and his father had encountered more and more outrageous experiences, e.g. the burning of bodies. “The night had passed. The morning star shone in the sky. I too had to become a different person, the student of Tulmad, the child I was, had been consumed by the flames. All that was left was a shape that resembled me. My soul had been invaded-and devoured- by a black flame”. (pg. 37) he had become less motivated by his faith, and more motivated by himself, his hope. His religion has a lesser meaning and less influence on his thoughts and beliefs, he still believed in god but didn’t think he was doing his job to protect his people "…I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice." (pg.45). God and the Tulmad had not had much influence on the faith they once had when he was back with his family at his own home in Sighet. Elie and his father waited every second, waiting for someone to turn around and say it was over, the holocaust was over, seconds became minutes, minutes became hours, hours became days, days became months and months became years, every second of every minute Elie and his father were working, working for nothing but the fact of living another minute, another hour, as days grew longer workers became more dehydrated, one night Elie’s father became so dehydrated he pleaded to a German officer for more water, Elie’s dad was beaten to a pulp and had died from the brutal attack “Since my father’s death, nothing mattered to me anymore… I no longer thought of my father or my mother. From time to time, I would dream. But only about soup, another extra ration of soup” (pg.113). Elie had no faith, just hope and will, a will to survive and hope that he would make it, nothing else mattered, not God, not his family, food, water and survival were the things that meant most now. Throughout “night” Elie Wiesel’s faith changes immensely, he changes from being a young devout Jewish boy to a boy who loses everything and exchanges his faith and beliefs to fight for a will to survive, no one will ever know how it felt to be in that situation, to have to give up God and their faith and struggle to fight for survival like Elie and everyone else at Auschwitz had to. Elie is a warrior, he never gave up on fighting to save his life in the time he was in the camp, he had changed from a young boy to a man, but that’s not to say that his life would ever be the same again, he would always be reminded of the mayhem.

-Human rights are being violated on every continent. More people are oppressed than free. How can one not be sensitive to their plight? Human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere (pg.119)