"Night" by Elie Wiesel is a terrifying account of the Holocaust during World War II. Throughout this book we see a young Jewish boy's life turned upside down from his peaceful ways. The author explores how dangerous times break all social ties, leaving everyone to fight for themselves. He also shows how one's survival may be linked to faith and family.

The novel starts out in a small highly Jewish populated Hungarian town named Sighet. The people's lives and community somewhat revolve around each other and religion (Judaism). More importantly we see immense care and concern among the citizens; they all help one another and are true to their similar beliefs and values. Eliezer's life starts out revolving around God, as he goes on his journey studying the cabbala and other forms of Jewish religious texts. Initially Eliezer's belief is a product of Jewish mysticism that God is everywhere and that nothing exists without God, and in the start his faith in God is absolute.

During the Holocaust, things change irreparably. The peaceful calm Jewish community that Eliezer once grew up with was shattered into a realm of chaos and selfishness. Eliezer believes that if all the prisoners were to unite to oppose the cruel that the Nazis inflicted upon them, then maybe he could understand the Nazi menace as an evil abnormality, but instead he sees that the Holocaust exposes the selfishness, evil, and cruelty of everybody; not only the Nazis, but also his fellow Jews, and even himself. I believe Elie Weisel is trying to say during chaotic times, society and communities turn corrupt and individuals only concentrate on their own survival. In other words, communities and societies alike shatter. Sons even turn against their fathers, in one case Rabbi Eliahou's son
"had felt that his father was growing weak, he had believed that the end was near and had sought this separation in order to get rid of the burden, to free him from an encumbrance which could lessen his own chances of survival."
Eliezer had guilty thoughts of him relieving himself the burden his father put on him, this showed him that the corruption of society had affected him.

Not only did Eliezer's faith in mankind change, his faith in god took a toll for the worse; "I was the accuser, God the accused… I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God". The presence of God was questioned many times throughout the novel. Keep in mind Eliezer does not abandon his faith completely; he manages to retain some of this faith throughout his experiences. This shows Elie Wiesel tries to inform the reader that one may survive because of faith. When Eliezer asks Moshe the Beadle why he prays, he replies, "I pray to the God within me that He will give me strength to ask Him the right questions." In other words, questioning is fundamental to the idea of faith in God. The Holocaust forces Eliezer to ask horrible questions about the nature of good and evil and about whether God exists. But the very fact that he asks these questions reflects his commitment to God. Only in the lowest moments of his faith does he turn his back on God, but this is only temporarily. When he fears that he might abandon his father, he prays to God, and, after his father's death, he expresses regret that there was no religious memorial or funeral. At the end of the book, even though he has been forever changed by his Holocaust experience, Eliezer emerges with his faith somewhat intact.

Elie Wiesel gives a combination of other reasons, besides faith, why an individual may strive to survive. One may survive purely for someone else, for example Rabbi Eliahou survived merely for his son, this is why Eliezer never told him that his son thought he was a burden and decided to leave his side for his own survival; "I had done well to forget that. And I was glad that Rabbi Eliahou should continue to look for his beloved son". Eliezer himself survived for his dad as well, and once his dad died he died to, emotionally "It no longer mattered. After my father's death, nothing could touch me any more". In the words of Emily Dickinson, it is as if he has the "formal feeling" (a state of emotional numbness) after "a great pain".

In the end Eliezer does die; if not for emotions and feelings what else is left? "From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me". Do not get me wrong, an emotional recovery from such trauma could have happened, to some extent it did happen to the author Elie Wiesel, but the novel ends with Eliezer declaring himself a corpse. Even if one were to recover emotionally from such a horrific event, there is still a deep seeded affect or how Emily Dickinson explains it a "heavenly hurt, it gives us—/ We can find no scar, But internal Difference,/ Where the Meanings are". You may ask why I have not added any personal experiences throughout this essay; the answer is simply because there is no personal experience that would stack up to such an event or novel. Elie Wiesel has done such a good job in describing the Holocaust that it shocks the reader into not even relating to it, which in most cases would be the truth. Throughout the novel Elie Wiesel gives the notions that during evil times, communities and societies alike, no matter how strong the bonds are, fall apart leaving individuals to concentrate on their own survival. Individuals themselves turn corrupt as well even turning on each other; father versus son, brother versus brother. The will for ones survival may be a combination of factors including faith and family.