Night: Week of 3/30/15

     *All page numbers are from the new book*

     There are many changes that Elie goes through in his story Night, but the two that I am going to focus on are changes through his faith, and changes through his relationship with his father.

     We see major changes in Elie's faith in God and in his religion throughout the book Night.  At the beginning of the novel, we can see that Elie is very involved and committed to his faith.  On the very first page of the book, (even though in the book it's actually numbered as page 3) Elie says, "During the day I studied the Talmud, and at night I ran to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple” (Wiesel 3). Considering the two events that Elie explains comprise his day are studying Jewish writings that relate to the bible and it's laws, and then spending the rest of his time in the Synagogue where religious worship and instruction for the Jewish religion takes place, it leads me to believe that he holds his faith at a very high position in his life. This can also be seen towards the beginning of the book when Elie says, "Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” (Wiesel 4). After being questioned about why he prayed, Wiesel brings up the questions of why he lives and breathes, two things that are so second nature, but important. You need to breathe to be able to live and live healthily I might add, and you need to live to be able to do incredible things and fulfill your purpose! Everyone's purpose for living is different though of course. Praying is just so second nature for him, and just as important and second nature as living and breathing, which would show how important Wiesel's faith is to him. Though, we soon see his faith and belief in God change when he reaches Birkenau, the reception center for Auschwitz. After arriving and being separated from his mother and sisters, Wiesel is left with his father, and after telling Dr. Mengele his age and profession, was put into a group that would be sent to the fire pits, would be sent to die right then and there. As others prayed behind him, Elie began to question God and become angry. This God he had worshipped his whole life, he for the first time did not see a reason to worship. We see this first change when Elie says, "For the first time, I felt anger rising within me.  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).  Though Elie's and his father's lives are spared, Elie then goes on to think, "Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever," and then, "Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes" (Wiesel 34).  Elie's faith was beginning to vanish.  He had almost been killed in the pits filled with fire and God did nothing for the people that had prayed and worshipped him their whole life, like Elie.  His God was "murdered" his faith was "burned" after God had almost let him, and let dozens of people be killed before him.  His faith had been shaken, and this is the first instance that we see Elie begin to lose his faith and trust in God. 

     After several weeks of torture shown towards the prisoners in multitudes of different ways, Rosh Hashanah, the last day of the Jewish year was upon the prisoners. Hundreds of Jewish prisoners gathered to say prayers, but after all that had occurred, Elie was angry with God, and thought,"Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves? Because He kept six crematoria working day and night, including Sabbath and the Holy Days? Because in His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death? How could I say to Him: Blessed be Thou, Almighty, Master of the Universe, who chose us among all nations to be tortured day and night, to watch as our fathers, our mothers, our brothers end up in the furnaces? Praised be Thy Holy Name, for having chosen us to be slaughtered on Thine altar?" (Wiesel 67). We see Elie beginning to build up more anger towards God. He is angry that he is continuing to let terrible things happen to the Jews in the concentration camps, and life is not getting better. He doesn't want to worship a man, no matter how mighty and great, who would let the Nazis torture the Jewish people. His faith is falling fast. He doesn't always talk about his relationship with God after every single terrible thing that happens to him, but when Wiesel is in a position where he is to worship God, he looks back and realizes that he has no reason to have faith, because it seems as if God had not cared about what happened, so why should he praise him? We see this anger and resentment continue when Yom Kippur comes along. One of the most religious holiday’s for Jewish people that occurs on the last of the 10 days of penitence that begins with Rosh Hashanah is upon the Jews in the camp, Yom Kippur. The Jewish people were supposed to fast on that day, another way of worshipping and showing their willingness to sacrifice for God. Though, Elie sees no purpose in doing this, as God doesn't seem to be committed to his welfare, and he says, "I did not fast. First of all, to please my father who had forbidden me to do so. And then, there was no longer any reason for me to fast. I no longer accepted God's silence" (Wiesel 69). Wiesel has finally had enough with God, and so he decides that fasting is not something he wants to participate in on Yom Kippur. This seems to be the first real act of rebellion against God, as Elie feels so strongly about the fact that God is abandoning the Jews and being silent amongst all of the torture, that he's just not going to take it anymore. He doesn't feel the need to sacrifice anything for a God that let thousands of Jews that loved and believed in him be sacrificed everyday. Elie doesn't bring up God much after this, until one last major time, when we see a complete change in Wiesel, which is when he says, "And in spite of myself, a prayer formed inside me, a prayer to this God in whom I no longer believed" (Wiesel 91). Even though Elie is praying, he finally makes the proclamation that he no longer believes in God. Even before this, despite what he did to show his anger and falling faith towards God, he still didn't announce, or think that God wasn't real. He just resisted God, went against him, showed his anger. Though, he never denied his existence. He finally does towards the very end, and we see a complete change in Elie, who had once worshipped God and held religion and faith at a very high place in his life, was now in disbelief of God, and had lost all faith.

We also see major changes in Elie's relationship with his father throughout the book Night. At the beginning of the book, Elie has a very distant relationship with his father. They are not very close, and his father was not a man that Elie even felt he could get completely close to. Elie informs us, "My father was a cultured man, rather unsentimental. He rarely displayed his feelings, not even within his family, and was more involved with the welfare of others than with that of his own kin" (Wiesel 4). Elie's father was a man who had a very high position in their town of Sighet, which is why he was very involved in the welfare of others most likely, but this didn't make it very easy for Elie to build a strong relationship with him, because he had so many other people to be concerned with, that he didn't always maybe have as much time for Elie. It also doesn't help, as Elie says, that he rarely displayed his feelings. How could he possibly build a strong relationship if his father couldn't and wouldn't open up his feelings to his family members? Though, this soon changes, and not exactly by choice. The people of Sighet are brought to concentration camps, and the men are separated from the women. Not only are they in a scary and dangerous environment, but the place and the people are all unfamiliar, and Elie's father is all that he has left. He explains that once he's been separated from his mother and sisters, "My hand tightened its grip on my father. All I could think of was not to lose him. Not to remain alone" (Wiesel 30). It is now so important for him to be with his father at all times. He is all he has left from home, the only person he knows, the only person that he feels secure with, even though they maybe weren't the closest. They are forced to build a relationship, and we can see this build throughout, and we can always see how important it is for Elie to stay with his father. When they arrive at the concentration camp, Buna, Elie and his father are sent to work at a warehouse counting and sorting different electrical parts. Even though they are both working in the same building, Elie says, "Please sir... I'd like to be near my father" and the worker assigning him to his position responds by saying, "All right. Your father will work here, next to you" (Wiesel 50). Even when they are in the same place, Wiesel stresses the importance of not being separated from his father. He can't afford to lose him, and the fact that even a small distance affects Elie's concern of separation, shows that they are really forming a stronger bond that Elie does not want to lose.

As time goes on, not only do we see a need for Elie and his father to stay together, but Elie begins to truly take into account the way his father is treated, and his feelings. He gains a greater concern for the effects of his actions on his father, showing that their relationship is growing even farther. Not only does he want him and his father to both be together and come out of the Holocaust alive, but he begins to care even greater for his father.  After being asked for the gold crown on his tooth by another prisoner in the camp, Elie tells him that he will not give it up, as ordered by his father to say that.  Though, Elie explains, "Unfortunately, Franek knew how to handle this; he knew my weak spot. My father had never served in the military and could not march in step. But here, whenever he moved from one place to another, it was in step. That presented Franek with the opportunity to torment him and, on a daily basis, to thrash him savagely. Left, right: he punched him. Left, right: he slapped him. I decided to give my father lessons in marching in step, in keeping time" (Wiesel 55). Wiesel could've looked at this situation as a positive thing for him. Franek wasn't hurting him for not giving up his tooth, he was hurting his father. Though, Elie's relationship with his father had grown to the point where he cared more about what happened to his father than what happened to him. He tried giving his father marching lessons, even though he and his father would be ridiculed, and in the end, gave Franek his gold crown just to end the torture that his father was going through because of it. He didn't even care about the crown, he cared more about what was happening to his father. Their relationship was growing.

Another example of this same situation where Elie took more into account his father's feelings, and the effects of a situation on his father, was when Idek was whipping him. Elie explains, "I was thinking of my father. He would be suffering more than I" (Wiesel 58). Even though he was being whipped, and the pain was extremely unbearable, he continued to think about how his father would feel. That he would be in more pain watching the whipping, than Elie being whipped, and he genuinely cared about that. He was thinking about his father, not just about himself, showing that he was beginning to care so much. He cared so much and was building such a strong relationship, that even their staying together seemed more important than living. Elie says, "As for me, I was not thinking about death but about not wanting to be separated from my father" (Wiesel 82). Even when they were preparing to go on a march to who knows where in the middle of the freezing winter with little clothing, Elie was not thinking about dying. His only concern was being with his father. Their bond was even stronger than death itself, and this is also evident when Elie says, "My fathers presence was the only thing that stopped me. He was running next to me, out of breath, out of strength, desperate. I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support" (Wiesel 86&87). Wiesel felt like he could just give up during the march from Buna to an unknown destination, but his father kept him alive. If it weren't for him, we would've given up, and I can only imagine that to keep fighting through the cramps from having to keep up with the fast pace run, not even march, of the march, and the inability to breathe would have to be immensely difficult, and something he wouldn't consider continuing if his relationship with his father had not grown and strengthened. Towards the very end of the book, Elie's father is very ill and weak and Elie explains, "Yet at the same time a thought crept into my mind: If only I didn't find him! If only I were relieved of this responsibility, I could use all of my strength to fight for my own survival, to take care of only myself...Instantly, I felt ashamed, ashamed of myself forever" (Wiesel 106). I can only imagine how hard it must've been for Wiesel to take care of both his father and himself, and even when he began to think of how much easier life could be if he found his father dead, he regretted the thought. If his relationship had not been strong with his father, I don't think he would've regret the thought, and I think he would've abandoned him a lot sooner, showing that even though thoughts like that crept into his mind at times, he still loved his father, and their relationship was too strong for those thoughts to follow through, or to actually be believed. Wiesel went from being very distant with his father, to immensely caring for and depending on their bond. His relationship with his father truly did change and grow throughout the novel.