NIGHTBY: ELIE WIESEL

Nick Kelley and Jeff Turner

Theme The struggle to maintain faith

Quote 1: “Why did I Pray?...Why did I live? Why I breathe?” This shows that Elie is questioning his

faith because he feels God isn’t answering his prayers, so he shouldn’t pray anymore

Quote 2: “Where is He? Here He is-He is hanging here on these gallows…” This quote shows that Elie feels God is

dead because he isn’t answering anyone's prayers.

Quote 3: “I’ve got more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He’s the only one who’s kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.” This quote shows that Elie now believes

in Hitler more because he feels Hitler actually keeps his promises, unlike God.

Quote 4: “I did not deny God’s existence, but I doubted His absolute justice.”

This quote shows that Elie doesn’t deny that God exists, he just doesn’t agree with his judgment, because he feels God wouldn’t allow this to happen

Quote 5: “Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul turned to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God himself. Never?” This quote shows that Elie believes that

the events that are occurring have murdered God and his soul. This is what starts his questioning of his faith in God.

Quote 6: I looked at my house in which I had spent years seeking my God, fasting to hasten the coming of the messiah, imagining what my life what my life would be like later. Yet I felt little sadness. My mind was empty.

This quote shows that at this point in the story Elie has not yet given up all his faith within God. But at the same time he doesn’t exactly feel that close attachment he had towards him at the beginning of the story.

Quote 7: For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? the Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?

This shows that Elie is angry with the fact that he should honor God even though he is doing nothing to help out their situation. He is starting to disbelieve that there is a God due to the fact that he feels as if God is ignoring them.

Quote 8: as for me, I had ceased to pray. I concurred with Job! This quote shows that Elie no longer has

faith in God, but has turned to things that are factual and he knows exists and work. He no longer has belief in spiritual things, only real things.

Quote 9: What are You, my God? I thought angrily. How do You compare to this stricken mass gathered to affirm to You their faith, their anger, their defiance? What does Your grandeur mean, Master of the Universe, in the face of all this cowardice, this decay, and this misery? Why do you go on troubling these poor people’s wounded minds, their ailing bodies? This quote shows that Elie is very upset

at God because he torturing all of these people with no mercy. He believes that a true God would do no such thing and is doubting the existence of his God.

Quote 10: And I, the former mystic, was thinking: Yes, man is stronger, greater than God. This quote shows Elie fully departing

from his belief in God. He himself says he was a former mystic and that now he believes that man is stronger than God because man withstood the atrocities whereas God did nothing.

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