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Lost Faith In Night By Elie Wiesel

Decent Essays

“I have not lost faith in God [despite] moments of anger and protest; sometimes I have been closer to him for that reason.” Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel explains the struggle of his changing beliefs in God during the Holocaust in his memoir Night. In Night, Elie Wiesel, a religious boy, is taken to several concentration camps along with other Jews, and separated from everyone in his family except for his father. He and his father live dangerous lives in the concentration camps, from being beaten, watching other prisoners die, and being close to death, until eventually Elie’s father dies and the camp is liberated. As Elie Wiesel’s time in the Holocaust lengthens, his devoutness in God begins to diminish.

Wiesel was extremely religious …show more content…

Eliezer hears a rabbi ask desperately, “Where is the divine Mercy? How can I believe, how could anyone believe, in this merciful God.”(Wiesel 73) Wiesel no longer knows what to have faith in anymore. He’s hoping for any proof of God, any validation that the God he used to pray to would help him, but always ends up disappointed. Wiesel is feeling extremely desperate and betrayed, especially when he heard that Rabbi Eliahou had lost faith. When seeing that Rabbi Eliahou’s son tried to get rid of his father “in spite of [himself], a prayer rose in [Eliezer’s] heart, to the god in whom [he] no longer believed in.”(Wiesel 87) Although Wiesel continues to claim that he no longer believes in God, a small part of him still hopes that he is out there and will save Eliezer and the rest of the Jews. He feels reassurance and secureness when praying to God because it was an instinct and brought him back to the days where he was very devout. He still believes God is out there and will eventually help him in the end. Eliezer continues to believe that God is not merciful and good, but still turns toward him in times of difficulty.

Eliezer went from being extremely religious to questioning in anger about God’s ways. He shows that only in the lowest moments does he turn his back on God, yet in times of need he prays towards God. By the end of the book, Eliezer is still undecided; he is no longer devout,

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