One way Elie made a colossal change was by completely giving up his faith in God. First off, I should explain that Elie was a very pious person (very religious). He literally wanted to seek out a mentor to better understand his religion and properly practice it. He was that invested and interested in the Cabala. A quote from the the book states, “By day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple” (Wiesel 1). This quote alone doesn't prove that Elie tried seeking a mentor, but it does indeed state how much time he invests to study his religion he truly cares about. All in all, Elie was very religious at the beginning of Night and everyone who read took notice if that trait.
Everything was going pretty well for Elie and his family. That soon needed once the SS invaded his town in Sighet. They used Elie's small and peaceful town as a ghetto, a ghetto no different then the others being constructed by the Nazis. This event along with many others slowly transformed. Day by day he was forming into this whole other person who was very different from the Elie in the beginning of Night. He no longer was pious by the end of the book. A notorious passage within Night by Elie states how he feels about God and what his thoughts are on Him. “NEVER SHALL I FORGET that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky. Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith for- ever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes. Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.” (Wiesel 32). It's worth mentioning at this point, we haven't even gotten halfway through his story. This was only the beginning and Elie had already shared with the reader how he feels about God and His silence. The passage not only shows when Elie lost his faith, but it also shows just how angry he is. Angry that this happened to him, his family, and his people. He is angry and disappointed with God.
During all that had happened, Elie had lost both his religion and his will to live. It was very difficult for him to just keep going. It just got harder and harder for him and his father to live like animals. To live in these terrible conditions they were all in and were expected to keep this lifestyle until they were executed. Along with other struggles Elie had to face, his main struggle was maintaining his will to stay alive. A quote from Night states, “I had to stay at Buchenwald until April eleventh. I have nothing to say of my life during this feeling. It no longer mattered. After my father’s, nothing could touch me anymore” (Wiesel 107). At this point in time, Elie felt lower then ever. There were certain points within the book that he felt death was an escape, but this just shows how his life was no longer a priority. He no longer had a purpose to live an extra day.
Luckily, Wiesel powered through just a little more to finally live as a free man. However, the events that occurred in Night still changed him. He couldn't take what happened in those camps back and had to live with all of those experience before he died not to long ago. In conclusion, what happened to Elie so long ago effected him greatly.
Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Bantam , 1958. Print.
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