“God directs our lives and brings circumstances and people into our lives with an unending amount of combinations, to bring about His purposes for us” (“Lecture 5,” 2014). This statement is true for Eli, the main character in The Book of Eli. He lives in a world riddled with crime and violence. It is a battleground between good versus evil. As a result, one can’t help but be drawn into the life of Eli as he travels across desolate land encountering bikers, gangs, young girls, bartenders, henchmen, and others under, oftentimes, life-threatening circumstances. The movie portrays a main character that epitomizes the Christian worldview in his quest to safeguard the sacred word of God while battling the evils of what remains of a world thirty years after it has been destroyed by war.
From a voice he hears, Eli realizes his purpose in life is to protect and preserve the only surviving Bible. He is a blind man traveling west. He is guided by his faith in God rather than by what he can see. His goal is to get the Book to others who respect and worship the sacred text. In doing so, he hopes the Book will bring about a better future for the world and restore mankind.
Though he is determined to stay out of conflicts with others, many times Eli is attacked by gangs that rule the roads of what has become a civilization without laws. In fact, he is often heard saying, “Stay on the path. It’s not your concern” (The Book of Eli, 2010). He is also wanted by Carnegie who is familiar with God and His word, yet has no respect for the Bible. Carnegie understands the power of the Bible. As a result, he desires it thinking it will give him the power to rule over what is left of the world. He is ruthless and selfish. He orders killings...
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...amount of violence. I struggled with the killings committed by Eli and kept having to remind myself that, for the most part, Eli was alone in a lawless society where the citizens were out to protect themselves. He needed to kill to survive and fulfill his purpose in life. It wasn’t until Eli reached his destination that he was among others who shared his desire to maintain the sanctity of religion and who wished to bring back order to humanity and the world. I admired Eli’s conviction to his faith despite all of the obstacles he faced. It proved God provides us with strength when we are faced with difficult situations as we work to fulfill our purpose in life. In a world where any semblance of faith appeared to be nonexistent and violence and killing seemed to be the norm, it was encouraging to see the Christian worldview, in which I strongly believe, prevail.
While facing struggle and adversity, a spiritually connected person may battle with his or her faith. In chapter 5, the Jewish prisoners are all gathered together and are a little anxious on whether or not this will be their last day on earth. They have been tormented because of their beliefs and now there are many questioning their quarrels with God. Elie is struggling to understand why God himself is rejecting and punishing those who serve him and give him his grace but yet are rewarding those who permits others to be gassed and killed.
Samuels starts out explaining the background of Elie, a child who has a great love for religion. Then, Nazis come and occupy his native town of Sighet. Although held captured and clueless to where they were going, the Jews were indeed optimistic. They had no reason not to be, the Nazis were treating them as they were of importance. However, the optimism was to come to a halt. After arresting the Jewish leader, the Jews were sent to ghettos, then into camps. It wasn't until they reached Auschwitz where Elie for the first time smelt burning flesh. Then the eight words that Elie couldn't forget, "Men to the left! Women to the right!" He was then left with his father, who for the whole trip he would depend on to survive. It was this, in which made him lose his religiousness. In the months to come Elie and his father lived like animals. Tragically, in the end his father past away, and to amazement Elie had not wept. Samuels did an overall remarkable job on this review; however, there were still some parts that could have been improved.
He had strong faith in God but yet as the story goes on, the camp starts to affect him and slowly loses faith. At the beginning, Elie is really close to God and expresses his faith greatly. “ By day i studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the temple.” (4). He studied the Talmud, which is the study of Jewish faith, everyday when he wasn’t in the camp, and he wept over the destruction of the temple. He wouldn’t have cared for any of this if he didn't have strong faith and believe in God. Now as the story progresses, that slowly begins to change. “ Blessed be God's name? Why, but why would i bless him? Every fiber in my body rebelled.” (67). Elie couldn’t find a reason to. He thought, why would a God let something so horrible happen to all the Jews. He couldn’t apprehend it therefore he questioned his faith in
... his sons to take over. Therefore, it would be hard not to be emotionally connected to the business because it was passed down from generation to generation. Lastly, in my opinion I believe that Eli is willing to do anything for his brother. Even though, he didn’t want to go on a mission for the commander, but he did it for his brother. Eli went to the extreme measure to protect his brother and himself by killing the commander “Casting the plug blade to the ground I pressed down on his shoulders so that his head dropped beneath the surface of the water”(Dewitt p. 317). This shows that Eli has the killing instinct in him, and he will do whatever it takes to protect himself and his brother. In conclusion, I believe that Eli and Charlie cannot live the life they want to live without any danger harming them due to the circumstances of their background history and past.
My claim is that the father and son relationship of Elie and his father had a huge impact on his life. The way Elie thinks and the things he does for his father. His relationship takes him to extreme measures supporting him like he is the number one person to live. Elie was a good kid but when it had come to his father everything went up and down for him. So his relationship with his father wasn’t a good one and it was only leading to disaster.
Eliezer was a strict Jew who practiced religion and observed all Jewish holidays. As a child he was very devoted and focused all his energy to study Judaism. He grew up loving God with the belief that God is more powerful than anything else in this universe. He believed that with all the power God has, he is capable to put an end to all this awful suffering. Living and witnessing all this misery and have God not do anything about it makes him questions God.
In order to have meaning or a purpose for existence, one must construct a sense of hope found on one’s perception of truth or value. Elie constructs his hope around his religion, faith, and family: three things grounded with a firm foundation that will never shake, at least it seems. After years of studying Jewish law and religion, Elie becomes firmly grounded in his beliefs and faith. Once uncertainty begins to settle in, Elie and others cling to their family and their prayers as they wait to hear the news Elie’s father will bring them: “To the last moment, people clung to hope” (Wie...
Elie Wiesel, a Jewish boy, lives in Sighet during World War II with his mother, father, and two sisters, and he is very religious and wanted to study Judaism. However, there were warnings by some people that Jewish people were being deported and killed. Although no one believes these warnings, Elie and his family are taken to a ghetto where they have no food. After being in the ghetto Elie and his father are separated from Elie’s mother and sister because of selection and were placed in cattle cars where they had no room. They are taken to Auschwitz where they suffer from hunger, beatings, and humiliation from the guards which causes Elie’s father to become weak. By now Elie loses his faith in God because of all he has been through. Lastly, Elie’s father dies just before the Jews are liberated and Elie sees his reflection in the mirror but does not recognize himself because he looks like a skeleton.
The novel starts out in a small highly Jewish populated Hungarian town named Sighet. The people's lives and community somewhat revolve around each other and religion (Judaism). More importantly we see immense care and concern among the citizens; they all help one another and are true to their similar beliefs and values. Eliezer's life starts out revolving around God, as he goes on his journey studying the cabbala and other forms of Jewish religious texts. Initially Eliezer's belief is a product of Jewish mysticism that God is everywhere and that nothing exists without God, and in the start his faith in God is absolute.
The idea that man's relationship with good and evil is not predestined is a central idea in this novel. The conflict between good and evil is a universal battle. Many characters in the novel, East of Eden, struggle both internally and externally with Good versus evil.
In the final moments of Night, Elie has been broken down to only the most basic ideas of humanity; survival in it of itself has become the only thing left for him to cling to. After the chain of unfortunate events that led to his newfound solitude after his father’s abrupt death, Elie “thought only to eat. [He] thought not of [his] father, or [his] mother” (113). He was consumed with the ideas of survival, so he repeatedly only expressed his ideas of gluttony rather than taking the time to consider what happened to his family. The stress of survival allocated all of Elie’s energy to that cause alone. Other humanistic feelings like remorse, love, and faith were outcast when they seemed completely unimportant to his now sole goal of survival. The fading of his emotions was not sudden mishap though; he had been worn away with time. Faith was one of the most prominent key elements in Elie’s will to continue, but it faded through constant. During the hanging of a young boy Elie heard a man call to the crowd pleading, “Where is merciful God, where is He?” (64). It snapped Elie’s resolve. From this point on, he brought up and questioned his faith on a regular basis. Afterwards, most other traits disappeared like steam after a fire is extinguished. Alone in the wet embers the will to survive kept burning throughout the heart ache. When all else is lost, humans try to survive for no reason other than to survive, and Wiesel did survive. He survived with mental scars that persisted the ten long years of his silence. Even now after his suffering has, Elie continues to constantly repeat the word never throughout his writing. To write his memoir he was forced to reopen the lacerations the strains of survival left inside his brain. He strongly proclaims, “Never shall I forget that night...Never shall I forget the smoke...Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the
Eliezer loses faith in god. He struggles physically and mentally for life and no longer believes there is a god. "Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my god and my soul and turned my dreams to dust..."(pg 32). Elie worked hard to save himself and asks god many times to help him and take him out of his misery. "Why should I bless his name? The eternal, lord of the universe, the all-powerful and terrible was silent..."(pg 31). Eliezer is confused, because he does not know why the Germans would kill his face, and does not know why god could let such a thing happen. "I did not deny god's existence, but I doubted his absolute justice..."(pg 42). These conditions gave him confidence, and courage to live.
Elie Wiesel begins to lose his faith in God after he witnesses several horrific events. After only the first day in camp, Elie remembers everything he has seen such as the fire and smoke, as well as dead bod...
In the book, there are many times when Elie is in a situation of evil. The first major time was when the Jewish people were forced into a small train car with about 80 other people. The author wrote that:
After being forced into concentration camps, Elie was rudely awakened into reality. Traumatizing incidents such as Nazi persecution or even the mistreatment among fellow prisoners pushed Elie to realize the cruelty around him; Or even the wickedness Elie himself is capable of doing. This resulted in the loss of faith, innocence, and the close bonds with others. Throughout his recollections, it is clear that Elie has a constant struggle with his belief in God. Prior to Auschwitz, Elie was motivated, even eager, to learn about Jewish mysticism.