Elie Wiesel Night Analysis

The cruel events that unfold in the Holocaust irreversibly damage Elie’s stance on God. What kind of God could let innocent Jews be burned alive, to be starved till they were nothing but skin and bone, to be treated like animals…? how could a benevolent God let such depravities occur? Not only were the Nazis unjustly cruel, but prisoners began to only think and act for themselves. If the world around him were selfish and cruel, Elie began to believe that God must be equally so. Elie eventually ceases to pray, refuses to fast (which was Jewish tradition), and questions the morality of God — the benevolent, peaceful, all-loving figure he once knew was nothing but a memory, and his belief had been severely shaken due to his experiences during

the holocaust. Elie, in anguish, states the he sympathizes with Job, who was a person from the Bible that suffered great loss and wrestled with his faith, which Elie does through the course of the novel.
Holding onto faith was a different struggle for everyone; while Elie believed that God had deserted them, others simply praised God and kept faith.

Akiba lost his faith, and then reassessed his belief and held on tight to the fact that he believed God was merely testing them. Only so much could be endured, before faith was lost.

Eliezer grapples with his confidence, however his battle ought not be mistaken for a total deserting of his confidence. At the point when Moshe the Beadle is inquired as to why he supplicates, he answers, “I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions.” Throughout Elie’s experience during the holocaust, he endlessly questioned God, the Holocaust powers Elie to make terrible inquiries about the idea of good and malevolent and about whether God exists.

The fact that he continues to question God, shows his commitment to God, albeit slipping away… I think there is a critical distinction between questioning God to bring a better understanding of his ways and the kind of question that simply seeks to validate man and man’s ways. The Holocaust has brought of the worst in a faithful son and caused him to question not just his filial piety, but his faith in his fellow prisoners, and his faith in the triumph of good over

evil.
Night has taught me that faith moves the world, and to above all else, have faith. God cannot be blamed for our suffering, rather human beings should be held accountable for their actions and behavior. Peace is not God's gift to his creatures, it is something that we humans must maintain and provide for each other.