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"Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?" (P.4) Ellie compares his faith to living and breathing.
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"By day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple."
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"That was when I began to hate them (Hungarian Police), and my hatred remains our only link today. They were our first oppressors, They were the first faces of hell and death." (P.19) Ellie traces his hatred back to this moment when he recalls the treatment they faced upon being deported.
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I looked at my house in which I had spent years seeking my God, fasting to hasten the coming of the Messiah, imagining what my life would be like later. Yet I felt little sadness. My mind was empty." (P.19) Ellie begins to question his earlier faithfulness.
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"For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank him for? (P.33) Ellie was angry at God because God did nothing to stop the Jews from getting tortured by the Nazis.
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"We were brought some soup, one bowl of thick soup for each of us. I was terribly hungry, yet I refused to touch it. I was still the spoiled child from long ago." (P.42) Even though Ellie is hungry, he refuses to drink the soup because he doesn't like it. He doesn't;t realize that his life has changed dramatically and the soup might be the only food he gets for a while.
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"I concurred with Job! I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice." (P.45)
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"Why, but why would i bless Him (God)? Every fiber in me rebelled." (P.67) Ellie felt angry that God did not help the Jews and instead let them be defeated and killed.
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"I was afraid of having to wish him a happy year in which I no longer believed in." (P.68) Eliezer doesn't believe that he can have a happy year anymore.
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"My father's presence was the only thing that stopped me. He was running next to me, out of breath, out of strength, desperate. I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support." (P.87) He needed to keep running and stay alive because he was his father's only emotional and physical support.
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"We were masters of nature, masters of the world. Stronger than cold or hunger, stronger than the shots and the desire to die, condemned and wandering, mere numbers, we were the only men on earth." (P.87) This quote further emphasizes the fact that Eliezer does not believe in God. Humans were the masters of nature and the world. He also describes themselves as 'mere numbers' which takes away the importance and meaning of human life.
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"In this place, it is every man for himself, and you cannot think of others. Let me give you good advice: Stop giving your ration of bread and soup to your old father. You cannot help him anymore. In fact, you should be getting his rations." "He was right, I thought deep down. You could have 2 rations of bread, 2 rations of soup" (P.110 - P.111) Eliezer awakens to the fact that his father is destined to die. In fact, he should take advantage of his extra portions of soup and bread.
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"From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me." (P.115) His describing of himself as a 'corpse' suggests that he is essentially emotionally dead. His soul and livelihood have been killed off in the holocaust.
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"The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me." (P.115) Eliezer mentions that he will never forget his experience in the holocaust. His traumatizing childhood memories will haunt him forever.
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