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Isabelle Rushton

Mr. Bigelow

English 10

16 November 2017

Keeping Faith

Keeping faith in religion and God is a very important thing to a lot of people. For some, it’s tough

to keep faith in religion especially if they are put into a situation where they could doubt God. In these

situations it might be easier for someone to put their faith in a person that is physically there, that they can

rely on in times of need, instead of religion. There are many examples of this in the book Night by Elie

Wiesel. As Elie loses faith in God, he begins to have more faith in his father, but anyone in the book that

loses faith in everything, dies. He shows that keeping faith in someone or something gives life meaning.

As Elie loses faith in God he gains faith in his father. At the beginning of the book, Elie’s father

is very distant, and not close with his family: “He rarely displayed his feelings, not even with his family,

and was more involved with the welfare of others than that of his own kin” (4). Elie’s father, Shlomo, was

very much distanced from Elie at the beginning of the book. He did not show that he cared about his

family, and he did not need to rely on his family to live. At this time, Elie did not have faith in his father,

although Elie was very faithful in God during this part of his life: “By day [he] studied Talmud and by

night [he] would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the temple” (3). Elie was very

faithful in God and his religion at this time. He would pray to God and worship at the synagogue, and

wanted to learn more about Him and his religion. Elie was not at all doubtful of God yet. Towards the end

of the book, Elie’s faith in his father is what keeps them both alive: “My father’s presence was the only

thing that stopped me… I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole

support.” (87). Elie and his father keep themselves alive, because they have faith in each other. As Elie

thinks about death, he thinks about how he is his father’s sole support and that he needs to stay alive for

him. This shows that Elie has faith in his father. By this time, Elie was losing faith and doubting God: “I
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had ceased to pray… I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice” (45). Elie still

believed in God at this point, although he seriously doubted him. Elie was losing faith in god because he’s

saying God still existed, but he wasn’t there to help them. Elie can’t have enough faith in God to keep

himself alive if he doubts Him.

As certain people in the book lose faith, they start to die. One character in specific, Akiba Drumer

starts off being extremely faithful in god, he says, “’God is testing us. He wants to see whether we are

capable of overcoming our base instincts, of killing Satan within ourselves. We have no right to despair.

And if He punishes us mercilessly, it is a sign that He loves us that much more’” (45). Akiba Drumer is

saying that God is still there, and He is just testing them. Akiba is very faithful to his God at this time. He

believes that the Holocaust is a way that God is showing that He loves these people. Later in the book,

Akiba Drumer has loses faith and dies: “Poor Akiba Drumer, if only he could have kept his faith in God,

if only he could have considered this suffering a divine test, he would not have been swept away by the

selection. But as soon as he felt the first chinks in his faith, he lost all incentive to fight and he opened the

door to death” (77). When Akiba Drumer loses his faith, he loses his will to live. In this book, losing faith

causes people to die. If Akiba Drumer had kept his faith in God, or kept faith in something or someone

else, he could’ve suffered God’s test and maybe could’ve lived longer.

Wiesel shows that keeping faith in someone or something gives people’s life a meaning. Even

though Elie had lost his faith in God, he had kept faith in his father throughout the book. His faith is what

kept Elie alive. As Elie and his father are marching towards the crematorium, they are faced with death.

Elie says, “There. I was face-to-face with the Angel of Death… I squeezed my father’s hand” (34). When

Elie thinks he is about to die, his instinct is to hold on to his father. Elie has faith in him because he is the

only thing Elie is thinking about in this moment. Elie had enough faith in his father to stay by his side and

hold his hand throughout their tough times. At the end of the book, after Elie’s father dies, he says, “I

shall not describe my life during that period. It no longer mattered to me anymore… I spent my days in

total idleness. With only one desire: to eat. I no longer thought of my father, or my mother” (113). When
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Elie has nothing left to have faith in, his life does not matter to him. The only thing he wanted was food.

He wasn’t living anymore, just trying to survive. His life did not have meaning.

In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie loses faith in God, which causes him to gain faith in his

father. As people in the book lose faith, they aren’t living anymore because keeping faith in someone or

something gives life meaning. Throughout the book, Elie loses faith in his God and starts to have faith in

his father, which is what kept him alive. One of the characters, Akiba Drumer, who was also very faithful

in God at the start of the book, loses all of his faith and ends up dying because his life no longer has

meaning.