As I began to reading the section section of Night, I began to be saddened by the lack of hope the people began to feel. I understand that after an entire year in a concentration camp, hope will be the last thing you feel. I felt so much sympathy for the people living in the camps. I disagree, however, when Elie began to turn his back on God and blames him for everything that is happening. Elie says,
"Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves? Because He kept six crematoria working day and night including Sabbath and the Holy Days? Because in His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death? How could I say to Him: Blessed be Thou, Almighty, Master of the Universe, who chose us among all nations to be tortured day and night, to watch as our fathers, our mothers, our brothers end up in the furnaces? Praised be Thy Holy Name, for having chosen us to be slaughtered on Thine altar?" (67).
Although I try very hard to understand Elie's understanding on turning his back, it doesn't make sense to me blaming this horrific experience on God. In this time, it's understandable that people would start to point fingers. Although it's realistic, it is not right for people to point fingers. It is not His fault that the human race that He created has decided to take advantage of their existence and their ego's. How is is His fault that Hitler decided to wipe out all of the people or an entire race that he did not like? Although this could be fathomable for other readers, this made no sense to me and made me actually dislike Elie a little bit even though I still feel sympathy towards him.
It also saddened me when Elie tells about the selection. The SS Officers take the physically most weakest men and kill them off. I don't agree with this at all, even if they were in a concentration camp. I believe, even if they are physically weak, everyone has something to offer to the world whether it be through art, words, or other ways. It's unfathomable that such horrific cruelty can be focused on one group of people just because of their beliefs or their descent. When I read about Elie's father not passing the first selection, my stomach dropped. He had first thought he passed but then realized that they wrote down his number without him realizing it. I was disappointed when I heard that he didn't pass the first selection and he gave Elie his spoon and knife, his inheritance. I felt hope, though, when he came back and said he had passed the second one. I was so worried that he wouldn't pass after everything he and his son have been through. They had tried so hard to stay together and get through the difficult and horrific times by each other's sides. I greatly feel for Elie and his father's fear living in the concentration camp.
The author of the blog is absolutely right about how it is wrong to blame God. It is very true that He is not the person to blame. the Holocaust is caused by the actions of a man. More specifically, the actions are caused by Adolf Hitler. If the followers are looking for someone to blame, it should be Hitler not God. God gave the people their lives, and since they are still living, they should be grateful that God has kept them alive this long when many have died. The selection also put depression in my mind when Elie's father did not make the first selection. I can only imagine what Elie must have thought after his father tells him the news. The giving of the "inheritance" made me want to cry. Elie and his father had worked so hard to try and remain alive, and with the possibility of the end being near was just too much to bare. I am just glad that his father manages to pass the second selection and can stay with Elie because in hard times such as the Holocaust, family is everything and the only piece of their lives left.
ReplyDeleteI understand why you said you disagree with Elie's feelings toward God, but I agree with him. His God has not only abandoned him, but all his followers. I, too, would be very upset and hurt to know that the God I had been worshiping all my life decided to let this cruelty occur. These camos were more then horrible and evil, they were much worse then that- how could God watch all this happen for so long and do nothing about it? I don't say it's right what Elie did, but if I were in his position I probabaly would have done felt the same way. Although, I do agree with how horrible the selection process is. To know that you were found one of teh weakest in the camps and that you had to be sentenced to a slow, painful death. ELie's father is very lucky to have passed to second time because, like you said, they have come so far together that it would have been horrible to lose him now.
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