Chapter 5
I believe the largest progression occurring in Elie during this chapter was his alteration in religious perspective. Although Elie had lost part of his faith prior to this section, it is made very clear that through the experiences of this chapter that he no longer has any trust in God. He consistently speaks of rebellion against God and believes that God is dead. I believe that Elie puts most of his anger and distress onto God and uses such rebellion to focus on himself. While Elie has moved to sel-preservation rather than faith, he still admires his father and is glad to be with him.
- “What are You, my God? I thought angrily. How do You compare to this stricken mass gathered to affirm to You their faith, their anger, their defiance? What does Your grandeur mean, Master of the Universe, in the face of this cowardice, this decay, and this misery? Why do you do on troubling these poor people’s wounded minds, their ailing bodies?” Page 66
- “Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves? Because He kept six crematoria working day and night, including Sabbath and the Holy Days? Because in His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death? How could I say to Him: Blessed be Thou, Almighty, Master of the Universe, who chose us among all nations to be tortured day and night, to watch as our fathers, our mothers, our brothers end up in the furnaces? Praised be Thy Holy Name, for having chosen us to be slaughtered on Thine altar?” Page 67
- “And I, the former mystic, was thinking: Yes, man is stronger, greater than God. When Adam and Eve deceived You, You chased them from paradise. When You were displeased by Noah’s generation, You brought down the Flood. When Sodom lost Your favor, You caused the heavens to rain down fire and damnation. But look at these men whom You have betrayed, allowing them to be tortured, slaughtered, and burned, what do they do? They pray before You! They praise Your name!” Page 68
- “I knew that my sins grieved the Almighty and so I pleaded for forgiveness. In those days, I fully believed that the salvation of the world depended on every one of my deeds, on every one of my prayers. But now, I no longer pleaded for anything. I was no longer able to lament. On the contrary, I felt very strong. I was the accuser, God the accused. My eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God, without man. Without love or mercy. I was nothing but ashes now, but I felt to myself to be stronger than this Almighty to whom my life had been bound for so long. In the midst of these men assembled for prayer, I felt like an observer, a stranger” Page 68
- “I did not fast. First of all, to please my father who had forbidden me to do so. And then, there was no longer any reason for me to fast. I no longer accepted God’s silence. As I swallowed my ration of soup, I turned that act into a symbol of rebellion, or protest against Him.” Page 69
- “I ran without looking back. My head was spinning: you are too skinny… you are too weak… you are too skinny, you are good for the ovens…”Page 72
- “I began to laugh. I was happy. I felt like kissing him. At that moment, the others did not matter! They had not written me down.” Page 72
- “‘Don’t talk like that, Father.’ I was on the verge of breaking into sobs. ‘I don’t want you to say such things. Keep the spoon and knife. You will need them as much as I. We’ll see each other tonight, after work.” Page 75
- “I was afraid of finding myself alone that evening. How I longed for an order to run! The military march. The gate. The camp. I ran toward Block 36.” Page 76
- “Where is God’s mercy? Where’s God? How can I believe, how can anyone believe in this God of Mercy?” Page 77
- “... my right foot began to swell from the cold. I could not stand on it. I went to the infirmary. The doctor. a great Jewish doctor, a prisoner like ourselves, was categorical: “We have to operate! If we wait, the toes and perhaps leg will have to be amputated.” Page 78
- “I made up my mind to accompany my father wherever he went.” Page 82