Quest Book Report 2, Night, Cindy Hurst REVISED

Wiesel, Elie. Night Canada: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd., 2006.


In Night, the narrative character Eliezer, based on Elie Wiesel himself, shares his experience in a memoir of being a Jew forced into the concentration camp Auschwitz. He explains how his community of Jews in Hungary had lived in optimism until it was too late, how even when they were warned of the horror that was to become their lives, they did not believe that such brutality could exist in the modern world. When Eliezer is forced into this state of living himself, he begins to question his belief in God, thinking that in no way would God ever allow something so cruel to happen to people. However, Eliezer emerges from the camp with a small hint of faith still lingering in him, driving him to survive. People who didn’t have faith, would loose hope and died, but Eliezer never gave up completely, perhaps not quite giving up that originally naïve optimism that led his friends and family to the concentration camp in the first place.

My good friend recommended this book to me as a "quest text" with the idea that the main character is able to find his faith. The strength of religion in this book, however, is more manifested in the fact that Eliezer was able to maintain enough faith, even with all the suffering he witnessed and experienced, to be able to survive the holocaust. He was on a quest to survive brutalities that no human being should ever be forced to survive through by striving to maintain even the smallest amount of hope. His hope was found in his father and in the small amount of faith that lingered in the depths of his soul. I, like Eliezer, have found myself questioning God in the past during times of difficulty. However, I realize that God is merciful and doesn't abandon his children even in their unbelief.

Elie Wiesel wrote this book with the intent for society to never forget the travesty that happened during the holocaust. He achieved this well by writing his experience in a nice and short, easy-to-read, first person account of the holocaust. Because it is written in first person the reader is able to connect more easily with the spiritual effects that occurred to Eliezer. You can understand how hard it would be to maintain faith in God, when right before you, you witness a truckload of babies being dumped into a fire pit. And yet he finds himself in prayer when times become the most difficult to conquer. It is sad to learn that he chooses to leave the infirmary to be with his father when his camp is evacuated, however, it left me impressed that even he who had an injured foot was able to survive the long march to Gleiwitz in the freezing snow when so many others died. It just makes you realize how bad off everyone must have been. This becomes even more manifested as Eliezer witnessed sons and fathers abandoning each other, and finds that even himself found himself in extreme temptation to have the burden of his father gone from him as well. And yet, something within him, does not yet give his father up until he finds his hospital bed replaced by another sick person. But that is when he ceases to have meaning in his life as a prisoner in a concentration camp.

Readers of all ages will be able to read and connect to its message, though it shares some gruesome details that would be more appropriate for a high school setting and older. However, if not this book, I feel that all civilization should be required to know of the devastating effect that the holocaust had on both the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of the lives of the persecuted.