Night by Elie Wiesel Analysis

Night Analysis

        Night is a memoir written by Elie Wiesel, a boy growing up Sighet a small town in Transylvania. We learn very quickly that Elie is a very religious boy; he spends his days studying the Talmud and by night is praying at the synagogue. Even though Elie is only thirteen he press’s his farther to find him a master to guide him in the studies of the Kabbalah, which is usually practiced when you’re in your thirties. His farther informs Elie that he is too young and must learn the basics first. Through his own pursuit he finds guidance from a member of the shtibl, who goes by the name of Moishe the Beadle.  Before their friendship Moishe approached Elie praying during dusk one day, and asked him why he prayed. Dumbfounded by the question Elie responds to the readers: “Why did I pray….Why did I live? Why did I Breath” (Wiesel 4). It’s at this point we truly understand how important religion and God is to Elie. His faith in God is premature and untested; the events that will unfold in Night will change Elies understanding of God.

Elie believes God is benevolent and loving, during his experiences through the holocaust he loses his faith and all understanding of God.   We are introduced to Elie from one sprectrum of faith and by the end on a completely different, more defiant spectrum of faith. The struggles he has with his faith and true understanding of God start one day when Hungarian police gather all the foreign Jews, cram them in cattle cars and expel them from Sighet. Elie’s mentor Moishe the Beadle is one of the foreign Jews who is expelled. This is the first indication of war and the Holocaust for the townspeople of Sighet. The community itself is wary but oblivious to any real threat to them, their ignorance would prove otherwise. The Hungarian government eventually falls to the Germans and begins to occupy Sighet. The Jews are moved from their homes into small Ghettos and forced to wear yellow stars. This is a common theme during the beginning of the book; even though they are being treated inhumane they still believe the Red army and God will protect them from any real harm. Eventually the Nazi’s strip them of their valuables and force them into cattle cars on a train bound for Auschwitz. This begins the journey of Elie’s loss of faith and his first confrontation with real evil.

After days of traveling in horrible conditions they arrive at Birkenau, the processing center for Auschwitz. Upon arrival they are met with a foul smell of burning flesh and smoke from chimneys. Prior to their arrival this sight was repeatedly described to them by a woman who hysterically screamed of burning furnaces. Sadly she was beaten by her own people and was considered crazy. At Birkenau they go through a selection in which they decide whether or not they will be killed immediately or be sent to camps to work. Elie and his father pass the selection thanks to help from another immate who informs them to lie about their age. Though they pass the selection Elie is separated from his mother and sister and never sees them again. He doesn’t know it at the time, but like millions of others will fall victim to the Nazi’s genocidal plans. As they approached the Dr. Mengel referred to as the “Angel of Death” Elie bares witness to the unspeakable acts. He sees a truck dump babies and children into a fire and farther up sees a larger pit for adults. Elie notices his father and others weeping and reciting Kaddish, the prayer for the dead. He hears his father whisper “May His name be celebrated and sanctified…” (Wiesel 33). Elie cannot believe nor understand what he is seeing, he begins to feel angry. This was the first real event where he began his struggle of understanding God, as described in his thoughts from responding to his father’s prayers “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” (Wiesel 33).  What Elie saw was so atrocious he immediately turned against God. From the start of the book we only knew Elie to love God and to pursue his teachings. He was defiant and angered at his once beloved God, and he had just seen the beginning of what was to become. It’s unimaginable to think of what he and others went through that first day at Birkenau, one could only imagine a dreamlike state of hell that could never be forgotten:

NEVER SHALL I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky. Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes. Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God himself. Never (Wiesel 34).

This is one of the most powerful statements that Eliezer gives throughout his ordeal. The use of “Never shall” is poetic in nature and stresses how unforgettable the first night was for him. After the selection Eliezer and his father had their heads shaved, their bodies disinfected, they were stripped of their clothing and tattooed with an identification number. As they were moving from station to station they were beaten repeatedly and given orders as if they were in some kind of abusive military program. Eliezer experiences all this within hours and can’t even recall how long it’s been since he’s been back at Sighet. This continued until they were marched to their new camp Buna. Once they arrive they learn they are going to be working in a civilian warehouse counting electrical wires. Their Kapo Idek, is known to fly into fits of rage and Eliezer falls victim to his violence, he is beaten severely for no reason. On another occasion Elizer witness Idek with a girl in the barracks and as a punishment whips Elizer until he passes out. The next couple of weeks for Elizer are a tortuous routine of beatings and work, where his own survival is the only thing that matters. Elizer hits one of his lowest points when he witnesses a public execution which the accused are hung. Although he had seen this before, this time one of the three condemned was a small child. As Elizer and the rest of the prisoners watch he hears another inmate whisper “For God’s sake, where is God” (Wiesel 65)?  In thought, Elizer answers- “Where He is? This is where-hanging here from this gallows…” (Wiesel 65). Elizer once thought God as loving and compassionate; the God he knew does not exist, he is dead.  His faith is all but lost and with his faith his morals and values have changed, he only cares about feeding himself and surviving.  We see more examples of Elizer’s defiance during the upcoming Jewish holidays. The inmates gather to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, as the rest of the camp pray together and praise his name, Elizer remains defiant and find no reason to praise his name. Elizer also decides to eat during Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday reserved for fasting in return for forgiveness of sins. To Elizer God has become a scapegoat of blame, he sees no reason to praise a God who “kept six crematoria working day and night, including Sabbath and the Holy Days” (Wiesel 67).  As Eliezer is forced to witness horror after horror, he has no choice to question God; he was at an age where he was just old enough to understand some of the divine aspects of his religion. He had not yet reached his full potential spiritually but was well on his way with his mentor Moishe the Beadle. Now faced with evil for the first time his understanding of God is ambiguous. Although he does not deny that God exist, he has changed his view about Him.