Faith in Yourself

"I did not move. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, before my very eyes, and I had not flickered an eyelid. I had looked on and said nothing. Yesterday, I should have sunk my nails into the criminal's flesh. Had I changed so much, then? So quickly? Now remorse began to gnaw at me. I thought only: I shall never forgive them for that. My father must have guessed my feelings. He whispered in my ear, "It doesn't hurt." His cheek still bore the red mark of them man's hand."

It is within this paragraph, on page 37 of Night by Elie Wiesel, that we truly see the affects of Auschwitz bearing down on Elie and this alteration in his character. He has been in the camp but a night, and already he lacks the capability to help his father when in so vulnerable and treacherous of a situation. Yet what is it, In Elie's character, that was altered, changed? Is it his character or rather his viewpoint on life that has been transfigured? Upon his arrival at Auschwitz, Elie ceases to pray. The epicenter of why Elie displays such a dramatic change from his life before the camps to his arrival and sustainment within the camp can be found when we look at the crematoriums.

The depiction of Elie when first viewing the crematoriums is heartbreaking; this is where he will perish, this is where he will take his last gulps of air. He has come to this camp and made to suffer such perilous torture only to expire on the doorsteps of Auschwitz. Elie illustrates the scent of burning human flesh that hangs in the air, the perturbing cries of burning children, and the ominous graves dug in the earth. Elie says that he will never forget this first night upon which he arrives at Auschwitz, for the selection is one of the most gut wrenching processes prisoners are made to suffer at Auschwitz. Is this where Elie changes, where the dramatic alteration in his character is made? The answer, in short, is indirectly yes. This horrific encounter most definitely changes him, but is it not also why he stops praying, why he loses faith?

Does Elie lose faith in God, and stop believing in Him, or does he simply think that although a higher power exists, he is a cruel and unjust God. Our answer hand can be found directly on page 42, when Elie states, "I did not deny God's existence, but I doubted His absolute justice." No truer words could have been spoken of a Concentration Camp victim; a God that exists in any prisoner's mind is a savage and barbaric one. A God in the mind of an Auschwitz prisoner is no friend but an enemy. So how does a prisoner maintain hope, if there is no one to have faith in?