Analysis of Elie Wiesel's Night

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The Holocaust changed the lives of many. Those that survived have many terrifying stories to tell. Many survivors are too horrified to tell their story because their experiences are too shocking to express in words. Eli Wiesel overcomes this fear by publicly relaying his survival of the Holocaust. "Night", his powerful and moving story, touches the hearts of many and teaches his readers a great lesson. He teaches that in a short span of time, the ways of the world can change for the worst. He wants to make sure that if the world didn't learn anything from hearing about the atrocities of the Holocaust, maybe they'll be able to learn something from Elie's own personal experience. Usually, a person can internalize a situation better when one hears the story of one single individual. His story presents many themes that one can learn enormous lesson from. He wants to let the reader know that without hope, there is no reason to keep on living. That's what helped Elie Wiesel give him the strength to tell the world what really happened. A major theme in "Night" is Eliezer's constant struggle with faith in God. At the beginning, he was a student who would regularly learn both Talmud and Kabala with his teacher Moshe the Beadle. This helped him strengthen his belief in God as a young boy. Kabala talks about how God is everything in the world and that nothing else exists but God himself. The Talmud talks about how God created the coexistence of good and evil and that everything that God does is for the good. He thought it was obvious that God existed, because how else could one understand a person's existence in this world? When Eliezer was asked why he prays to God he responds by saying, "Why do I pray? Why do I live?... ... middle of paper ... ...lief in God or in man is actually a true and valid belief. A person's belief may change under horrific circumstances. The Holocaust showed how the world could turn upside down, and all that was once corrupt can become the norm. This piece of literature was written as a sign that there is still hope in the world; that we should never forget such atrocities so that they will never happen again. We should pray like the Jews of Sighet prayed as they were deported from their homes. They prayed that God should take pity and have mercy on them. We should pray for peace among nations, and for morality to be the norm. "Night" teaches us that without hope, men will lose all human dignity. As Ethics of the Fathers states, "Rabbi Chanina taught: "Pray for the welfare of the government, for without fear of governmental authorities people would swallow each other alive."

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