Night by Elie Wiesel is a compelling story of one boy's survival of the Holocaust. Elie starts describing his early years in the town of Sighet in Transylvania. Here his father was a prominent member of the Jewish community and Elie devotes his entire life to his religious beliefs. "During the day I studied the Talmud, and at night I ran to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple." His beliefs ran so deep that he would always weep when praying without knowing why. When asked why he prayed he responded,
             '"I don't know why." He then asked himself, Why do I pray? A strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?'
             This alone shows a passion for his beliefs that is often overlooked in today's society. As a young boy of twelve, his way of life was deeply shaped by his religious sensibilities. As his life went on, a horrible act of humankind not only destroyed his family, his way of life, his people, but also his conception of God. It is this destruction that he focuses on and explains as only a person who has lived through such a horror can.
             The central thesis of Night focuses on one little boy's experiences during the Holocaust. The strength he found for survival, the friendships that he made, and the dehumanizing treatment he and others experienced are detailed in this book. It was this experience in his life that turned him away from his God that he grew up worshipping and loving. His memoirs focus on this turn away from God and why a young boy of twelve no longer believed.
             Elie Wiesel did not need to try and prove a point in this book. It is a memoir of his life and an experience that the whole world will never forget. A person need not have lived during World War II to imagine the horror or to hear the stories from those who suffered. Our society today could not bear witness to such an event. Hopefully we, or those that follow, will never have to. Peopl...