Night - Week of 3/30

How do Elie's experiences during the Holocaust change him as a person?

     When reading this book, I think it's easy to say that Wiesel did a great job of showing how the Holocaust changed him over the years. The reader is able to juxtapose the Elie at the beginning of the book with the "new" Elie at the end. In my opinion, one of the most obvious changes in Elie was his Faith. In the beginning, Wiesel said he "would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple" (3) and compares praying to the need for breath or life. At this point, Elie is only twelve years old, borderline thirteen. He wants to study the Kabbalah, something kids of his age don't normally do. Right off the bat, the reader can see that Elie is very much a devout Jew, especially for his age.

     However, this all changes later on in the book. In Birkenau, Elie hears his father praying before the selection determining who will live and who will be sent to the crematoria. Already, Elie shows signs of a faded Faith when he says, "Why should  I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?" (33) After seeing the terrors and inhumanity of Birkenau, Elie begins to reject God for letting these things happen to his people-- for choosing to be silent. This is a big jump from being a passionate Jew to teetering on the edge of no more Faith that I believe Wiesel made very powerful in his novel.

     Wiesel not only changed in Faith, but in morals as well. Elie is separated from his mother and sisters immediately at Birkenau, left with only his father. At first, Elie refuses to leave his side in order to feel safe and comforted. In fact, his father becomes his will for survival at times. However, just like his Faith, the feelings waver. Through the book, the reader can see glimpses of Elie putting his survival above his father's, such as when he considers leaving his father behind: "...a though crept into my mind: If only I didn't find him! If only I were relieved of this responsibility, I could use all my strength to fight for my own survival, to take care only of myself..." (106) You can see that his morals have changed because now he is open to abandoning the only relative he thought he had left in that time to survive. Again, this is a very big jump. At first, he could not bear to be away from his father in the camps. Later on, he thinks about completely leaving him for his own benefit. The Holocaust did not necessarily make him more selfish, but it made his survival instincts rise to the surface.