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Admission/Application Essay, History How Wiesel’s views of the world fundamentally changed between the beginning of the story and the end. The Holocaust proffered one of the most upsetting theological predicaments of the twentieth century. Elie Wiesel was one of the survivors from the Nazi concentration camps where death lurked at every moment of his existence. Wiesel relentlessly evaluated and questioned His relevance to the suffering humankind.
His perspective of the Holocaust, in the four most difficult years of history of humankind (1941-1945) direly related to his grim experiences. In his book “Night” he puts a question to himself and answers, “Why did I write it? Did I write it so as not to go mad or, on the contrary, to go mad in order to understand the nature of madness?”(p. vii) One of the greatest tragedies overtook his race and Wiesel’s challenging question was how God dealt with a particular section of humankind atrociously and allowed the perpetrators of the crimes a free hand?
Does He often default in dispensing justice? About the compulsions for writing this book, he argues, “To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” (p. xv) He and his father were shifted to different camps, and not sure of reaching the destination, each time they thought that it was their final journey. The shifting exercises resulted in fatal casualties of the internees. Describing one such gory incident he stated, “His cold eyes stared at me. At last, he said wearily: I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else.
He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people”. (p. 80) Wiesel wrote candidly, “Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes” ( p. 34). When nothing favorable happened, he doubted the existence of God and his merciful Kingdom. He accused God as He was the mute witness to the cruelties of the Nazi forces. The Jews believed till the last moment that God would protect them. Like many others, Wiesel too was trying to find out the religious justification for their suffering, without complaining against the Will of God.
But things worsened and Wiesel began to doubt God. As years rolled by, he began to assert with conviction that some Supreme Power governed the world. Notwithstanding the serious and profound confusion, he transcended the bitter feelings and remained an optimist. He began to feel terribly alone without God. The process of change was taking place in his inner world and from the state of accusing and denouncing God Wiesel began to demand explanations from God for His silence. He covered every issue in His judgment, but we did not understand it fully.
In his Nobel Prize Acceptance speech Wiesel argued, “As long as one dissident is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our life will be filled with anguish and shame.” (120) He considered each human being responsible to contribute to the overall welfare of humankind. Change of heart of each individual can only guide the humankind to the portals of peace. Such an orientation needs to be given right from childhood. Wiesel states that one can forgive, but not forget.
One section of global society should not observe mutely, the atrocities committed on another section. No one wants the second Holocaust. Eric Wiesel knows it. But that again is a prayer of the humankind. Ultimately, Wiesel developed firm conviction that some Supreme Power governed everything. Since violence is not the permanent solution, the choice before the humankind is to seek peace. Divine Power will intervene and in the end Wiesel comes around to accept this viewpoint. Works CitedWiesel, Elie. Night. Trans.
Marion Wiesel. Hill and Wang, 2006; Print
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