Eduardo Davila IB English 11 Mini World Literature Essay-Night Mr.

Mouzon 14 January 2013 Over time, humankind has sought out the answers to many questions and although the goal is the identical for all, each person has their own view; the goal, for many centuries, has been to uncover the meaning of life. Many times people say that we are all just a product of a random event that led up to the creation and evolution of our ancestors. Because we, as humans, thirst so greatly for answers to many questions, we seek ways to explain the unknown. Many times, we even create figments of our imagination so that we may have something to hold onto, something to show us that there is a purpose to life, yet in some cases, we tend to lose faith in what we see as the provider of answers. Through the extensive analyzing of the autobiographical memoir Night, written by Eliezer Wiesel, we can conclude that through the employment of literary elements and techniques, Eliezer Wiesel has conveyed that in tough times, humans begin to lose faith in what they call a higher power but in order to survive; they never completely do lose their faith. Many times, we are forced to live through unforgettable events, whether they are positive, or negative we can rest assured that they will engrave themselves into our memories. In the third section of night, just after Eliezer and his father apprehend that they have survived the first selection in Burkenau, Eliezer says, Never shall I forget that night Never shall I forget those flames, which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things,

even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.(Wiesel 34) When he says this, Eliezer is reflecting his first night in the concentration camp and the effects that the night had on his entire life. This is the when Eliezer first introduces his spiritual battle and the beginning of his loss of faith in GOD. Because this night was so shocking to Eliezer, we can assume that his faith had not been challenged in the past and this is why he is so affected by this event. Everything he had once believed in was starting disintegrate. This happens especially because all of the prisoners were completely powerless to rebel and so they all directed their anger towards the only being that they felt was responsible for everything in their lives. The aforementioned quote was a good use of the emotional literary device called authorial intrusion. Eliezer Wiesel used this device to form a direct relationship with his readers and although he claims that his faith had completely vanished he also said that he would never forget those events, even if he had to live as long as God Himself (34),which leads us to believe that he still does actually believe in GOD. Nevertheless, he begins to lose his faith in a higher power because of the extreme experience he had that night. In addition to losing faith in a higher power, humans often replace GOD with themselves because after suffering a lot, we feel as if we are the ones who fight for our survival. In the sixth chapter of the book the prisoners are ordered to run or even sprint from Buna to a new location and much to their own surprise, some of them made it to the new location alive. We were masters of nature, masters of the world. We had forgotten everythingdeath, fatigue, our natural needs. Stronger than cold or hunger, stronger than the shots and the desire to die, condemned and wandering, mere numbers, we were the only men on earth.(87) In this quote, Eliezer is describing how he feels. He tells us that he now has a godless worldview. In Jewish prayer, GOD is often the Master of the Universe and by this part of the story; the prisoners begin to make

themselves their own GOD. They consider themselves the masters of nature and the world. Here, Eliezer used the literary device metaphor. He compares himself and the rest of the prisoners to GOD when he says that they were masters of the world. He believes that if they were able to overcome that experience they could do anything, just as GOD can do anything. As we see when he discusses Akiba Drumer dying, Eliezer speaks about how faith makes a person have a sense of being and a reason to fight for their life. By this point in his experience, he is profoundly debating his faith. In his mind, faith is nothing but a mere illusion. He thinks says that he has a belief that an omnipotent creator does not exist. Although he has an almost complete lack of faith, Eliezer is approaching his spiritual battle with religious views and that is what does not let him completely lose his faith in a higher power just yet. Humans will always feel the need to live on, but without faith in a higher power, the reason to live is greatly diminished and that is why faith in a higher does not ever completely disappear. Even when someone says that he or she no longer believes in a higher power, somewhere in their mind, they know that there has to be something greater than an earthly life, otherwise there would be no reason to have the will to go on in the toughest of times. Eliezer emphasizes this in the sixth section of the book, during the respite from the march to Gleiwitz. He had felt that his father was growing weak, he had believed that the end was near and had sought this separation in order to get rid of the burden, to free himself from an encumbrance which could lessen his own chances of survival. I had done well to forget that. And I was glad that Rabbi Eliahu should continue to look for his beloved son. And, in spite of myself, a prayer rose in my heart, to that God in whom I no longer believed. My God, Lord of the Universe, give me strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahus son has done. (91) In this quote, Eliezer uses foreshadowing to hint us on what his actions would be later on in his book. He asks GOD for

strength and because we know that he has not completely lost his faith, he will later on have more strength and will be able to keep his faith sturdy. He also lets us know what he would do if he ever had to be placed in a situation like Rabbi Eliahus son. Additionally, not only emphasized the importance of the father-son relationship for Eliezer, but also that every prisoner in the Holocaust needed a reason to struggle, a reason to want to survive. For many people, that reason was their faith in God, but since Eliezer had lost almost all of that faith, the only thing that kept him struggling to live on was his relationship with his father. Eliezers quickly learns that the Nazis cruelty distorted everyones views and developed cruelty in the hearts of the prisoners. Survival had become the highest priority during the Holocaust and lead prisoners to turn one another without hesitating. Eliezer fears that he too will become this way, that he will not be able to control himself and turn on his father. Throughout his experience, Eliezer learned that any human being, including himself, is capable being cruel to another person. Eliezers prayer to GOD lets us leads us to believe that he still has some faith in a higher power. Eliezer senses the possibility of his weakness being too much for him, so he seeks for help from a greater power. By this point in the story Eliezer no longer considers himself master of nature, master of the world (87) as he did in the previous parts of the story and this is exactly what Eliezer had hinted us would happen through the use foreshadowing. He wanted us to know that he never completely lost his faith in a higher power and he successfully conveyed this message in the aforementioned quote. Throughout the entire story, Eliezer Wiesel wanted us to tell us that in order for him to survive the Holocaust, he had to keep a hold of his faith in a higher power, otherwise he would have gave up on life much faster and would not have waited for the liberation, especially after the death of his father. He begins his story by leading us to believe that in tough times, humans

will always lose their faith in a higher power, but as the story goes on, he diverges from this idea and teaches us otherwise. Many times in life, we feel as if GOD does not exist because there is so much suffering and pain in our lives, but there will always be somebody who has it worse than us and Eliezer Wiesel teaches us a valuable lesson with his story. He teaches us that when you feel that you cannot handle the pain anymore, that is when you need to hold onto your faith the most because when the world knocks you down to yours knees, you are in the perfect position to pray.