In the memoir, “Night”, Elie Wiesel is faced with the struggles of going into concentration camps such as Auschwitz, Buna, and others in late World War II. During the holocaust, because of the lack of modern technology, no other countries knew about what was happening to the Jewish prisoners in these camps. However, Elie Wiesel was not the only one who was struck with devastation in these times of unknown crisis. Other Holocaust victims lost faith in not just their surroundings, but in themselves as well. Due to the abominable conditions of the concentration camps, Jews were both physically and psychologically damaged. As a result of how the human brain takes trauma, survivors of the Holocaust have been changed negatively or positively, depending
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According to multiple sources, one of the causes for them losing their faith is part of a psychological paradox. The memoir “Night” nods towards the fact that Elie was stuck in this mindless spiral. Viktor Frankl, another Holocaust survivor, supported the idea of the paradox when he said, “Only in this way can one explain the apparent paradox that some prisoners of a less hardy makeup often seemed to survive camp life better than did those of a robust nature...” in The Question of God. Using the thoughts that Wiesel wrote in his memoir, it can be hypothesised that Elie was mentally going down hill. For example, “As if all the troubles in the world were not already upon us...”(Wiesel 38), this shows that Elie feels as if his world cannot get any worse. Since this quote is early on in the book, it is the beginning of him losing faith in everything, including his religion. Another example of Elie losing his faith in God is whenever he saw God hanging from the gallows with the child. This is a piece of the proof of him believing that the God he once believed in was no longer with him. To conclude, Elie and many other Jews were feeling as if God was abandoning them. In their minds, if there were a God, he would not allow these terrible things to be …show more content…
Many people in the holocaust have run across distrust in their family. For example, Elie stayed with his father and cared for him until his untimely death, but then no longer thought of him during the remainder of his time in the camp and showed no lamentation. “I could not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!” (Wiesel 112). Though one 's faith in family was a rising conflict, those in the camp have started to lose faith on those around them by stealing from others and only taking what they see. For example, the queue have showed no sympathy or care when Elie was being whipped to unconsciousness from Idek. Near the end of “Night”, you can see Elie starting to become more like those around him-uncaring of the other prisoners and only wanting to be free of the camp’s interminable deterrentment. “Our first act as free men was to throw ourselves onto the provisions. That’s all we thought about. No thought of revenge, or of our parents. Only of bread,” (Wiesel 115). Also, Elie has faced a small problematic situation with the villagers when they were on the cattle cars heading to Buchenwald. For example, a woman was throwing coins into the cattle car and watching the children fight for their lives.
According to multiple sources, one of the causes for them losing their faith is part of a psychological paradox. The memoir “Night” nods towards the fact that Elie was stuck in this mindless spiral. Viktor Frankl, another Holocaust survivor, supported the idea of the paradox when he said, “Only in this way can one explain the apparent paradox that some prisoners of a less hardy makeup often seemed to survive camp life better than did those of a robust nature...” in The Question of God. Using the thoughts that Wiesel wrote in his memoir, it can be hypothesised that Elie was mentally going down hill. For example, “As if all the troubles in the world were not already upon us...”(Wiesel 38), this shows that Elie feels as if his world cannot get any worse. Since this quote is early on in the book, it is the beginning of him losing faith in everything, including his religion. Another example of Elie losing his faith in God is whenever he saw God hanging from the gallows with the child. This is a piece of the proof of him believing that the God he once believed in was no longer with him. To conclude, Elie and many other Jews were feeling as if God was abandoning them. In their minds, if there were a God, he would not allow these terrible things to be …show more content…
Many people in the holocaust have run across distrust in their family. For example, Elie stayed with his father and cared for him until his untimely death, but then no longer thought of him during the remainder of his time in the camp and showed no lamentation. “I could not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!” (Wiesel 112). Though one 's faith in family was a rising conflict, those in the camp have started to lose faith on those around them by stealing from others and only taking what they see. For example, the queue have showed no sympathy or care when Elie was being whipped to unconsciousness from Idek. Near the end of “Night”, you can see Elie starting to become more like those around him-uncaring of the other prisoners and only wanting to be free of the camp’s interminable deterrentment. “Our first act as free men was to throw ourselves onto the provisions. That’s all we thought about. No thought of revenge, or of our parents. Only of bread,” (Wiesel 115). Also, Elie has faced a small problematic situation with the villagers when they were on the cattle cars heading to Buchenwald. For example, a woman was throwing coins into the cattle car and watching the children fight for their lives.