Night Response 3

            Faith – what motivates a person to persevere through any tragic event. Without faith, there is no hope. Everyone wants to believe in something, something larger than life. But without anything to believe in, one’s world might fall apart. Throughout the course of the book, Night, Elie faces the greatest struggle to maintain a strong faith in God.

             What kept most of the Jews hopeful during WWII was their firm faith in God, and their belief they would eventually reach salvation. After Elie starts to realize there is no way out of death’s grasp, he starts to doubt God. What used to be his most valued moral is now the very moral he corrupts. Without faith in God, he feels there is no way out, no hope, no future. Because of all the horrific tragedies that occur right before his eyes, he sees no reason to believe in God, let alone worship him. “Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled” (67). Elie let down his guard, and lost all belief in the one thing that could keep him motivated to not give up – a firm faith in God. Just because God isn’t responding to Elie’s prayers the way he wants him to doesn’t mean that God isn’t listening. If Elie would just continue his hope that God performs miracles, his time in the concentration camp would be a little easier to experience. Everyone wants to believe in something larger than life, but Elie is struggling to hold onto that faith.