I would like to draw yout attention towards two fragments of the book that I find particularly important and which offer us some food for thought
Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned
my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never
shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the
children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue
sky.
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.
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.
How do you explain Wiesel's words here? He was just a Jewish boy but the statement sounds bold. Does Wiesel believe that God is dead?
I personally think that Wiesel was overwhelmed by all the horrors he witnessed in the first night at the camp.He felt abandoned by God after seeing those atrocities happening before his very eyes.He was just a boy that, until then, lived in a very religious family, and in those moments of horror he waited for the all-powerful God to intervene but everything was silent,nothing happened. This made him wonder if God allowed those things to happen or if he existed in the first place. After such a traumatic experience he truly believed that God is dead.
ReplyDeleteGiving what happened to him, seeing his relatives, his people suffering such a horrible and painful death, no matter how faithful he was, God was gone. People tend to turn their face to God in the harder moments of their lives, but from one point on, the bigger the pain, the lesser the faith.
ReplyDeleteInhuman and unfair things were happening under his eyes, none of them did anything to deserve that, so why didn't God help? Why did He allow that to happen? These are the questions that, i guess, he was asking himself, questions that only had one answer...God was dead, all the things that Wiesel saw had murdered Him, and nothing could get him back.
Even if he was just a boy, Wiesel was given to live one of the most terrifying experience in the history of humanity. His words are filled with strong feelings, stronger than sadness and with a huge dissapointment, not only in humanity, but in God Himself. He doesn't belive that God is dead dor anyone else but himself. The images he was given to see in that camp killed his faith, hope and God at the same time with his desire to live.
ReplyDeleteWiesel no longer trusted God or counted on Him after witnessing the death of a truck full of innocent children.Being bitterly disappointed, he chose a road without God, because he could not accept a God which worked against the innocent.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think that deep down, Wiesel was continuously asking himself "How can God let so much evil go unstopped?".
In my opinion, that night represented to Wiesel the moment in which he realized the cruelty of those people, blinded by the racial differences. Back at home, Wiesel believed in God more than anything else and seeing those awful things happening to people of all ages consumed his faith completely. Not only did he lose his faith in God, but also the one in humanity; his innocence, his dreams- all of them disappeared forever.
ReplyDeleteWiesel here is losing his in faith in God because he has so many horrible and frightening things happening to him that it is overwhelming him therefore he begins to lose his faith in God. Wiesel is naming all of the horrific things that are happening around him such as the faces of little innocent children and individuals being burned alive. For a young boy at the time Wiesel was very strong I believe he tried very hard to not loose his faith in God but at the time it was very hard to have faith.
ReplyDeleteWiesel's perspective was entirely changed from that night. The things he saw, the things he heard. It no longer involved his previous life. Even his perspective of God is altered. He doesn't see a savior or anyone who can help. He sees no one. Anything he once thought was destroyed with the events of one night.
ReplyDeleteFrom his words, it can be seen that Wiesel felt horrified from the chaos that has occurred which made him lose his faith, his dreams, and in God.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Wiesel felt that God was no longer there for him and his people , that he gave up on them or left them for dead. Wiesel feels that he could never forget a night so terrible and traumatizing , it would never leave his thoughts for as long as he lives.
ReplyDeleteWiesel now feels that in a world so cruel, there is no way that a God really exists anymore. It took away his faith due to there being so much death and horror even when it is promised by faith that God will protect them, Wiesel and other Jews, from this but this simply isn't happening.
ReplyDeleteHe lost his faith because of all the pain and suffering he went through.
ReplyDeleteIn My Opinion Wiesel Stops Believing In God And Starts Feeling Lonely And Weak.
ReplyDeleteWeisel clearly shows how the events that occurred in his life during the Holocaust made a huge impact on him. He finds it hard to believe and stay true to his faith because he continuously believes that God has abandoned the Jews. It would be easy for a boy of his age at that time to lose any faith because of what he had saw and how he felt that no one cared for what was happening to the Jews. I do not believe that Weisel thought God was dead. Instead, I believe that he thought that God did not care about wht was happening to him and his people, like he wanted this to happen. The events traumatized him and left only doubt and no room for dreams and ambitions. Weisel's mind and innocence was destroyed.
ReplyDeleteWiesel loses his faith in God because of the intense pain and suffering he has had to go through and has seen in such a short period of time. He is very discouraged that God has an amazing strength he doesn't use to save his people from the cruelty they are going through.
ReplyDeleteWeisel beloved so strongly in God before his first night and wanted to dedicate the rest of his life to the study of God. That is until the first night at the camp where as he said his God was "murdered". He was murdered by allowing the Nazis to murder his people. This caused so much pain for Weisel that even a child could understand. By the end I do believe he did believe God was dead.
ReplyDeleteWiesel believed in God that he would get him out of that awful situation. When seeing them terrible things happening it took his faith away. But no matter how hard it got is still believe God was there for him.
ReplyDeleteWiesel is loosing faith in god because of all the things he's been through. He acknowledges all the. As things that has happened and he talking about all the innocent people that died. He also started to feel lonely. -Madyson spearman
ReplyDeleteWiesel was raised by a religious family so seeing those murders commited because of racism, seeing his family and those children suffering made him doubt his faith not only in God, but in humans as well;he asked himself if it was anyone up there.He lost his faith in God and humans for the rest of his life.As I said I think he believes that God is dead because He didn't do anything to stop those people and showing no interest for the horrible things that were made so no matter how faithful he was, God was gone.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the experience Wiesel went through was very traumatizing because the things he witnessed changed his way of thinking and made him doubt the existance of God. As a child, Wiesel may have expected a divine intervention which would have saved all those innocent people. No matter how religious he was before, the horrors he saw at the concentration camp made him become a different person, a person which he never expected to be.
ReplyDelete