Book Club Essay: “Night” 

The Holocaust was a terrible time in Europe. Around 6 million Jewish people were killed. The book “Night” by Elie Wiesel is about Elie’s experience in the Holocaust. Throughout the book Elie’s view on religion changes. In the beginning Elie is very focused on his religion and believes very strongly in it. Towards the end of the book he hears lots of other people questioning their faith in religion and he isn’t sure if he still wants to believe in God.

Before Elie goes to the concentration camps he practices his religion frequently and believes strongly in what he does. For instance, “Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” Elie is saying that praying is just as important as breathing and living, which shows how focused and concentrated he is on religion. Another example is, “By day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple.” Elie cares so much about his religion he cries about it. This shows how committed he is to practicing his religion.

While Elie is at the concentration camps he hears people around him questioning God and their belief in religion. For instance on p. 64 when a young boy is going to be hanged someone says, “Where is merciful God, where is He?” Elie is listening to people saying things like that, which makes him question his religion. The people who were so faithful to God are wondering why God is letting such horrible things happen to them. Another example is on p. 67 when Elie is listening to people pray he says, “Blessed by God’s name? Why, but why would I bless him?... How could I say to him: Blessed be thou, almighty, master of the universe, who chose us among all nations to be tortured.” Elie almost seems mad that people are praying to God even after what he has “done” to them. He has gone from praying very faithfully to questioning why he should even pray at all.

Overall Elie’s perspective on religion changes throughout the text. He goes from taking it very seriously to questioning why he even should believe in God. The experience that he had to go through definitely changed his life and made his perspective on a lot of things change.