1. Todd Pickel
Period 2
Activity 2
Ellie Wiesel was a young boy at the beginning of the story, with lots of love for his
family, and was very devoted to his Jewish beliefs. Throughout the story Ellie turns his
beliefs into more of a hatred for Him, he begins to wonder why He would ever let such a
thing happen to so many undeserving people. As Ellie and his father experience the
camps together, Ellie begins to feel more “numb” as you would say to his emotions. On
page 48 Ellie says, “What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, before
my very eyes, and I had not flickered an eyelid. I looked on and said nothing. Yesterday
I would have sunk my nails into the criminal’s flesh. Had I changed so much, then?”
From this excerpt you can see how the camp had begun to change Ellie, showing the
cold path to him being “numb”. As the story goes along, you can also see Ellie’s change
of heart, for his religion. On page 74, Ellie says, “Why, but should I bless Him? In every
fiber I rebelled. Because He had thousands of children burned in His pits? Because He
had six crematories working night and day, on Sundays and feast days?Because in His
great might He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many factories of
death?” In those 4 statements, Ellie had completely changed from himself at the
beginning of the book, he had completely and utterly turned his back on He, and now
had a slight hatred towards him for letting all of these occurrences take place. Lastly, on
page 116, Ellie talks about his father’s passing, “There were no prayers at his grave. No
candles were lit to his memory. His last word was my name. A summons, to which I did
not respond.I don’t not weep, and it pained me I could not weep.” With this final
statement, you can see how Ellie has progressed throughout the story, from a young
religious and loving boy, to a cold, tired, numb, emotionless, man.