Identity which is all of the things that make up who you are and how others view you plays a key role in the novel Night. Throughout the novel, the main character, Eliezer, faces many problems that affect his identity. Many of the things that he witnessed, such as death, hangings, and the dehumanization of Jews at the camps changed the way Eliezer thought about and viewed certain things. Throughout the course of the book, Eliezer’s identity changes negatively greatly due to the situations that he experienced at the camps. After watching many children get burned alive in the crematory and himself nearly being sent as well, Eliezer’s faith towards God deteriorates. At Auschwitz’s reception center named Birkenau, people were being sent to the
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Watching the deaths of many children in front of his very own eyes weakens his faith towards God, yet it strengthens his reasons to accuse and defy Him. As a result of witnessing the abuse and many hangings at Buna, Eliezer refuses to accept God, accuses him of all the horrors he's experienced, and defies him. Eliezer saw many hangings, including one of a child, and he questions God angrily about killing those people. He is so angry at God for allowing crematories and camps to exist and for all of the deaths that have occurred that he doesn't fast on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. He reveals, “…there was no longer any reason why I should fast. I no longer accepted God’s silence. As I swallowed my bowl of soup, I saw in the gesture an act of rebellion and protest against him”(Wiesel 66). Eliezer is tired of God for not helping the Jews and accuses him for all the deaths and the power Nazis have over Jews. He defies Him by not fasting which is a sacred commandment and represents the willingness to surrender to discipline. When he doesn't fast, he’s denying God’s existence and is rebelling against him. By denying, accusing, and refusing to accept God, he has shown how much the camps have caused his identity to change in a negative
Watching the deaths of many children in front of his very own eyes weakens his faith towards God, yet it strengthens his reasons to accuse and defy Him. As a result of witnessing the abuse and many hangings at Buna, Eliezer refuses to accept God, accuses him of all the horrors he's experienced, and defies him. Eliezer saw many hangings, including one of a child, and he questions God angrily about killing those people. He is so angry at God for allowing crematories and camps to exist and for all of the deaths that have occurred that he doesn't fast on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. He reveals, “…there was no longer any reason why I should fast. I no longer accepted God’s silence. As I swallowed my bowl of soup, I saw in the gesture an act of rebellion and protest against him”(Wiesel 66). Eliezer is tired of God for not helping the Jews and accuses him for all the deaths and the power Nazis have over Jews. He defies Him by not fasting which is a sacred commandment and represents the willingness to surrender to discipline. When he doesn't fast, he’s denying God’s existence and is rebelling against him. By denying, accusing, and refusing to accept God, he has shown how much the camps have caused his identity to change in a negative