"Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness." -Desmond Tutu How does the above quote relate to the details in the story about Elie lying to his family member (Stein) about his wife and children still being alive? What eventually happened to Stein?

The quote by Desmond Tutu about providing false hope is relevant to Elie's lie to Stein because it provided the support for Stein to not give up on living. This "lie" made him believe that he needed to survive the ordeal of the camp or anything so that he will see his family again.

After learning the truth about his family, Stein 'ceased to exist', meaning he died. The false hope was the only thing holding him alive and once the truth was known, he seemed to find no will to live with his family gone.

Explanation:

Elie Wiesel's memoir "Night" presents the first witness's accounts of the horrors of the Holocaust. This book contains and presents the true accounts of what life was like for Jews during the Nazi regime and the discrimination against the Jewish people.

While in the camp, Elie and his father met Stein, a relative. Elie lied to him that his (Stein) family are alright, despite not knowing anything about them. This blatant lie is what Desmond Tutu meant when he said "Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness." In this sense, Elie's lie is just the sliver of hope that Stein needed in a depressing and unfortunate event such as being in the camp. If Stein was to know that his family's gone, then he could easily give up hope of trying to survive and meeting them again. But the "lie" of them still alive kept him going, giving him something to look forward to despite the condition.

But once the new arrivals came, Stein seemed to discover the truth about his family and then, he simply ceased to exist. This means that after learning of his family's condition, he may have given up the only last hope of living and thus, giving up his will to survive. Eventually, Stein died.