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Loss Of Faith In Elie Wiesel's 'Night'

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English 10 Rough Draft Essay In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, the author uses symbolism, and metaphors to show the theme loss of faith. Both Elie and his father express signs that they have lost faith in the Jewish religion. This is important because religion is supposed to help people through hard times, and give them faith in the world around them. The first example of this is when all of the Jewish civilians are forced to wear the yellow Star of David. When Mr. Wiesel was asked what the community should do about being shamefully forced to wear the star. His response was rather nonchalant stating. “The yellow star? So what? It’s not lethal…” (11) This shows that Mr. Wiesel is not holding the offense to his religion in high regard, showing …show more content…
He uses his surroundings to exemplify why he should not take everything for face value. “Why, but why would I bless him… 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?” It shows that he has lost faith in his god and no longer sees him as the benevolent provider to man that he is depicted to be. The final and perhaps most pressing issue concerning loss of faith in Night is that even after he escapes the camps and is liberated he does not thank his god he continues to live with a subdued faith in his holy father. His focus once he is free is not on thanking his god but on practical, perhaps selfish things such as obtaining as much food as possible. “Our first act as free men was to throw ourselves onto the provisions. That’s all we thought about. No thought of revenge or our parents. Only of bread.” In conclusion the author uses many literary devices to show that loss of faith is a pressing issue in the novel Night. Examples would include Mr. Wiesel’s insensitivity to people mocking his faith, Elie abandoning his god during the concentration camps, and Elie not restoring his faith once his hard times were

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