A Character Analysis Of Elie From 'The Grapes Of Wrath'

The one person in Elie’s life that means everything to him is his father. During his time in the concentration camps, Elie’s bond with his father

In a couple parts of the story Elie’s dad in many ways was jeopardizing Elie’s well being. For instance, when his father was sick. “Instead of him taking the extra bread he had gotten he gave it to his dad” There was no point because his father was gonna die either way so he basically wasted it. Another example of why family isn’t always the best thing to have during a crisis. Is when the “rabbi's son left him when they were forced to run away from the Americans/ Russians”. He did this because he thought his father was dragging him down so he slipped away and left him to ultimately die alone. Which still doesn’t justify what he did, but i’m sure he did it to save his own life because his father was slowing him down. Another example would be when they were on the train the second time and a SS officer threw a piece of bread into the cart just to watch the men fight over it. While they were fighting Elie describes a point where “a man actually beats his own father for a piece of bread”(Wiesel Pg.105). These are just two of many instances throughout the

He formed a hard shell around himself in the beginning, but opened up in the end. Elie was aware of himself gradually turning into a brute and he is worried that he will give up his humanity to survive. He is scared that he might eventually betray his own father. He had indeed “betrayed” his own father by not helping when his father was being beaten by the gypsy and later Idek, but Elie made up for it by saving his father’s life from the two men who were taking out the corpses. He felt good about eating extra soup after the death of one person, but he felt disgusted at himself after witnessing the death of a child too light to be hanged, so much as to lose his appetite.

One internal conflict Elie experienced was the loss of all of his family. While he was in the concentration camps, he and his father were the only ones in his family that were left. “My hand tightened its grip on my father. All I could think of was not to lose him. Not to remain alone,” which was stated on page 30, explains how he and his father were all that were left and his father would have to be there for Elie during that time. They fought hard together through the cold nights

They were both afraid to be separated from each other. As Elie says “ All I could think of was not to lose him. Not to remain alone.”pg. 30. There bond was unbreakable during their time in the camp. They were each others reason to live.They helped each other. For example ,when Elie had to give up his crown do that they wouldn't beat his father. They felt each others pain and sorrow.They listened to each other and lived for each other. “ My father’s presence was the only thing that stopped me.”pg.86. Towards the end things got rough in camp.

In the beginning of the book, before experiencing life threatening difficulties, Elie was much more determined to stay with his family (in order to survive). Eliezer thought that his father was what kept him going and gave him strength, he was certain that the right thing to do was to stay with his dad. In chapter 3 Wiesel states, “My hand tightened its grip on my father. All I could think of was not to lose him. Not to remain alone” (30). In these sentences, Elie explains that he and his father needed to stay together. This quote also shows what Elie’s emotions were; he was scared to suffer through the concentration camp alone. Elie also shows his need for family when he says, “Franek, the foreman, assigned me to a corner... ‘Please, sir ... I’d like to be near

At the beginning of the novel , Elie's relationship with his father is fairly close. Slowly but surely, through out the novel their relationship changes. The reason for their father-son relationship tobe fairly close and not extremely close as it should be is because his father, Chlomo’s commitments to the community, affects his life at home.

Elie starts to have doubts about god he misses his mother and his sister but he lost all hope because the camps were dehumanizing him and made him lose his character and who he used to be but his old self never thought to ever look down on god but he had no other options but too he didn't know if he would ever make it

Elie is one of the lucky ones that got to keep his dad with him while he worked and sleep with him. Elie's father suffer a lot though, he would get whipped and beat up by one of the germans, and lost most of his dignity. Now, this is not the worst problem though. The worst problem is that he has know idea what happened to his mother and sister. He has trouble accepting that there dead so he tells himself he will see them again. But the truth is they are most likely dead because when they first came to Auschwitz they said “women to the left and men to the right” so they got seperated and taken away to be killed. Elie Wiesel's family will never be a family

Once Elie was separated from them his first and only thought was to not lose his father and to not remain alone even while they were abused physically, mentally, and emotionally. No matter how many times they wanted to give up they didn't because they were each others motivation to survive. Elie would have done anything to survive along with his father to the point where he would cause chaos so his father wouldn't be sent away because of how weak he had become. Elie didn't ever want to leave his father's side which is why he “had made up [his] mind to accompany [his] father wherever he went.”(82). Even if he might've discovered later on that it wasn't his wisest

My father did not want to hear of it. ‘You can go if you want to,’ he said to me and my oldest sisters. ’ I shall stay here with you mother and the child….’ Naturally, we refused to be separated.” It is clear that Elie would risk everything to stay with his family than to be selfish and safe.

Family stays with us through our hardships and never lets go. Even when our families aren’t strong we have to be strong for them. Elie survives these struggles, because his family is there. His father being with him through it all makes him keep going.

While they’re being separated from one another, he and his father continue through the process and finally get settled. Eventually the are presented with some pretty horrific events like hangings and other things. As this happens Elie once asked himself, “Where is merciful god, where is he?” This shows Elie second guessing his faith in God as he is questioning God himself. Near the end of the book Elie becomes quite used to this sights and starts to completely deny the presence of

This book interested me because it is a great example of what so many people went through in concentration camps throughout Europe in World War II. So many books have been written about personal accounts of war hardships suffered by the Jews but so few capture the true problems faced by prisoners. The impossible decision between survival and family was a difficult one faced by many during this time. Elie had an unfaltering will to live when his father was alive with him but once his father died the reason for living disappeared. But he once was faced with the decision of helping to keep his father alive or let him die and have an extra ration of food. How can one be stuck with a decision like this and not choose survival? Only true unselfishness can cause you to help someone

In John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, the supporting character Jim Casy is characterized as faithless. Casy is a former reverend of a church, and after re-encountering his old friend Tom Joad, the two have a conversation to catch up with each other. Casy states that the religious spirit is declining in his community, and he leaves his job because he does not believe that religion matters anymore. He starts using words he would not say as a preacher, and he justifies it: “maybe you wonder about me using bad words. Well, they ain’t bad to me no more. They’re jus’ words folks use, an’ they don’t mean nothing bad with ‘em”(32). This evidence reinforces the concept that due to the lack of religious spirit in Casy, he does not believe there is anything wrong with religious exclamations because the words are just common amongst people. Like Casy, people who do not believe that doing something is bad see nothing wrong with doing it. When young children find out that Santa Claus is not real, they start doing things against the rules unknown to others, contrary to when they believe that Santa is always watching them and that they always have to follow the rules. Also, Casy’s thoughts on religion change after leaving his job as a reverend. When the Joad family asks for a prayer in a time of hardship, the family calls upon Casy because he is a former preacher. But since Casy has left his religious duties, he has