In an illustration of this strategy, Roth refers to the work of Elie Wiesel, who "shows that life in a post-Holocaust world can be more troublesome with God than without him" (9). In his works, Wiesel looks at different forms of theodicies and does not accept them for various reasons. Because of his experiences, he has put together his own personal theory of theodicy that allows him to accept God while still handle his violent experiences. In his book Night, Eliezer, who, despite his young age, has studied Jewish theology, at first wonders the suffering is due to committed sins, but then changes his mind and sees it instead as something to which someone must submit.
In Chapter 3 of Night, Eliezer breaks his narrative to consider how the Holocaust affected his life after it came to an end. He looks back to his first night in Birkenau and clearly and emotionally writes how he felt then and how he will always feel from that night on in order to justify his mixed thoughts:
Never shall I forget that night . . . which has turned my life into one long night. . . .Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God. . . . Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.
With some comments as these, it appears that the book offers no hope at all. As Roth notes, Eliezer protests God's actions. Yet, although it ends with Eliezer a shattered young man, without faith and hope for himself or for humanity, Wiesel, himself, believes that there are reasons to have faith in God and humanity's capacity for goodness, even after such horrors as the Holocaust. The fact that Eliezer has taken the time to write his memoir, ironically demonstrates that he feels he has something to lend, something to say to others. His life has value, therefore, and so must other people, too.
Roth says that the verdict reads "guilty," (9) but that word is not the end. Wiesel's thought has a method of a potestant. He does not stop asking questions, "What is the next step?" Without reaching a conclusive answer, he continues, "And yet" And yet." Regardless, he must add something else. "How is one to believe? How is one not to believe?" These thoughts allow Wiesel not to discount the waste that indicts God. Instead, he stands with Moses in recognizing that God's sovereignty, at the same time as arguing against God for the sake of his people. Roth explains that Wiesel's argument is that one is not to look for a divine scapegoat or to solve problems by blaming God. Rather, humans have to take responsibility for their own actions. All in all, Wiesel is mapping out boundaries of meaning that will help him deal with his ordeal in Auschwitz. It would be too far to deny God completely. Yet, it is also going too far to say that he is completely good or to apologize or exonerate him.
From a personal standpoint, I cannot support the "accept all" philosophy of theodicy. I cannot ignore the evil in this world as if it did not happen. Nor, however, do I feel that expressing anger or disappointment with God will help. Anger, unless it helps one's internal conflicts, does not solve anything. It can be a wasted emotion. Instead, I look at another person who spoke about theodicy. John Hick redefines evil as a "soul-making" theodicy in Evil and the God of Love. Hick claims that in light of present day anthropological knowledge,...
This is why he fled his adoptive parents' home, and confidently volunteered to solve the riddle of the Sphinx. Because he believed he had the ability to outwit fate he confidently issued a proclamation to Thebes, telling the suffering citizens he would be sure to punish whomever was the cause of the plague -- and unwittingly condemning himself. But in "Oedipus at Colonus," Oedipus is a humbled man. He
"And we, the Jews of Sighet, were waiting for better days, which would not be long in coming now." (Night 5) Even as they were taken to death camps, many Jewish individuals continues to believe that God was with them and that they needed to act in agreement with his plan, despite the fact that it involved them having to suffer. While Wiesel started to doubt God's plan, he continued
In "A Story of an Hour" the protagonist must confront the idea that for her to live, her husband and her conventional, protected domestic existence must die. What has been really killing her is not her weak heart, but her entrapment in misery, and when she is returned to the prison of her misery, she expires -- not of joy, but of the shock that she cannot escape. The
.. We appointed a Jewish Council, a Jewish police, an office for social assistance, a labor committee, a hygiene department -- a whole government machinery. Everyone marveled at it. We should no longer have before our eyes those hostile faces, those hate-laden stares" (Wiesel, p9). Chances of surviving the camps depended largely on whether one was deported to a work camp or a death camp and whether one was of sufficient age
Because Elie Wiesel's Night provides one of the most graphic and intimate accounts of the horrors of the holocaust and the effect it has on the human psyche, it serves as the best primary source that can be used to teaching the Holocaust to a secondary level high school classroom. Not only is it an essential book to read, it serves to move the curriculum forward in teaching students how
The prize is not awarded every year, since 1901 there have been 19 years in which it was determined that no candidate fit the criteria. However, in 1986 Wiesel received the prize because of his continual work towards reminding humanity that violence, repression and racism have no place in the modern world. Since 1958, and the publication of Night, Wiesel continued to write, lecture, and advocate a continual "message
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