Night Blog - Character Development

         In the beginning of Night, Elie Wiesel was an extremely religious man. He was devoted to the Jewish religion. His experiences in the book, changed him. After living through the horror of the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel questioned god.

         In the first section of the book, Elie Wiese showed us how religious he was. He was praying to god, each and every day, while weeping. His tears show that his faith is not forced. Elie Wisel truly believes in god. His faith is on the level of breathing and plain living, "Why did I pray? A strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breath?"
         After being forced to the concentration camp, Elie was to open his eyes and reevaluate the world. His first experience in the concentration camp was witnessing infants being tossed into a pit of fire. After witnessing the embodiment of innocence and purity being massacred, he was forced to believe that God was doing nothing. Elie told himself that God let poor infants die: "Never shall I forget the small faces of children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent cry... Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never."

         Elie Wiesel's personality was connected to his religion. He followed the rules of their bible and his personality was led by his faith. If his faith is destroyed, what happens to his personality? It'll change.

          In the first 3 sections of the book, Elie Wiesel still had humanity left inside of him. He still cared for his father, and the people around him. He would usually go out of his way to save his father's life, just as he did during a selection. Elie's father was about to get killed, but Elie created a diversion for his father to escape. That humanity and emotion for his father was gone. Elie changed.
          In section 4 of Night, Elie witnessed his father being beat by a worker in the concentration camp. Elie reacted in a way that surprised me, he did nothing. Truthfully, after witnessing his father get beaten, he even scolded his father for angering the worker in the first place. Elie even admitted that he was considering escaping the scene to make sure he doesn't get hurt himself, "I had watched it all happening without moving. I kept silent. In fact, I thought of stealing away in order not to suffer blows... That was what concentration camp had me me." Elie put himself first. He didn't care about his father that's getting beat down by a metal pole. He was actually more worried about getting beat himself.