At the beginning of Night, Elie is a boy and then young man growing up in Sighet, Romania. When he is a teenager trying to understand the world and God, it is difficult to say that Elie stands for much at the beginning of the memoir. Even so, he is a deeply religious person when the reader meets him for the first time. The events of Nighthave a profound impact on Elie’s religious...
At the beginning of Night, Elie is a boy and then young man growing up in Sighet, Romania. When he is a teenager trying to understand the world and God, it is difficult to say that Elie stands for much at the beginning of the memoir. Even so, he is a deeply religious person when the reader meets him for the first time. The events of Night have a profound impact on Elie’s religious beliefs.
On Night’s first page, Wiesel describes himself like this: “By day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple.” He often cries during prayer; his devotion runs that deep. Elie’s arrival at Auschwitz begins the process that will disintegrate his faith: “Why should I sanctify His name?” Elie thinks after seeing the crematorium for the first time. “What was there to thank Him for?”
The most important moment of Elie’s religious transformation occurs when when the SS execute a young boy. The boy suffers when the hanging rope does not break his neck, but painfully strangles him. Elie comes to the conclusion that God and all he stands for are slowly dying on the gallows, as well. To Elie, even if God exists, he is impotent to stop evil or simply does not care.
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