Father Son Relationship In Night By Elie Wiesel

From the time where Elie had to decide to fight for his father’s life, to the time where he questioned his beliefs, Elie has had to make many life-changing decisions. As some of his decisions left negative consequences, some were left a positive outcome. In the end, all the decisions Elie had made in the camps has made his life miserable or at its best. For better or for worse, the events that Elie encountered makes his life unforgettable as realizes there was more to life than he had thought of

After 3 weeks at Auschwitz, they get deported to Buna, which is a turning point for the relationship between Elie and Chlomo. The camps influence Elie and give him a crooked mind focused on staying alive and nothing else. This leads to him disregarding his father. This twisted way of thinking, due to the camps, is making Elie cheer during bomb raids at Buna. He states his thoughts “But we were no longer afraid of death, at any rate, not of that death” (57). This shows that he is willing to die to see the camps destroyed. The most horrifying event that demonstrates his twisted mind is when Eliezer pays no heed to his father while he was being repeatedly beat with an iron bar. Eliezer, rather than acting indifferent and showing nothing, actually feels angry with his father. “I was angry at him for not knowing how to avoid Idek’s outbreak” (52). The new lifestyle of the camps affected Elie and his relationship with his father for the worse.

When Elie and his father first entered the camps, his father was struck and Elie did nothing to help his father: "What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked. Only yesterday, I would have dug my nails in this criminal's flesh" (39). This shows that, although Elie did not share a close relationship with his father, he still feels that he should stand up for his fahter for the fact that they are father and son. Elie is very violent in that he would have "dug his nails in the criminals' flesh." Evidently, Elie is furious towards the offender. Unfortunately, Elie does not do anything when his father is struck because he does not want to draw attention to himself. Nevertheless, the bond between Elie and his father does strengthen: "And what if he were dead, as well? He was not moving. Suddenly the evidence overwhelmed me: there is no longer any reason to live, any reason to fight" (98-99). Elie reveals that he truly depends on his father for survival. Because he believes his father is no longer alive, he loses all hope for surviavl. Although Elie expresses anger towards his father from time to time because he is being a burden, he still feels that his survival is meaningless without his father. The strong bond that the two developed once they entered the concentration camps proves that nothing can come between them so easily.

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

Then, throughout the middle of the novel, the strength of family bonds of the Jews is tested. After the run, a Rabbi asks Elie if he had seen his son, Elie tells him that he had not. Then Elie realizes that he had seen his son on the run, but he does not tell the Rabbi because his son left him behind on purpose. The text states, “He had felt his father growing weaker… by this separation to free himself of a burden that could diminish his own chance for survival” (Wiesel 91). This is where the reader begins to see the toll that the concentration camps are having on the families. Elie includes this to show, that now, family members see each other as burdens rather than a blessing. Later in the novel, family members go as far as taking a life. One old man

The Apple Needs it’s Tree In a short period of time a young boy named Eliezer was thrown into the Holocaust head-on with nothing but his father and his whits. The same can be said for hundreds of other young boys trying to survive the horrors of the Holocaust. The memoir Night showcases the struggle of a boy named Eliezer and his father to survive the Holocaust.

He suffered from a loss of humanity after the death of his father. Elie felt that “If [he] could have searched the recesses of [his] feeble conscience, [he] might have found something like: Free at last!...” (Wiesel, 112). The phrase “Free at last!...” implies that Eliezer felt relieved that he was no longer responsible for keeping his father alive and did not have to worry about anything except himself. Elie lost his sense of compassion, which is a major component of being human. He didn’t feel remorseful like how a son usually feels when they lose a loved one. Furthermore, Eliezer began to lose his compassion toward his family and became unconcerned with anybody except for himself. Elie looked back and saw how truly dejected he was; “With only one desire: to eat. [He] no longer thought of [his] father, or [his] mother. ” (Wiesel, 113). By being focused on his personal needs, he drastically changed from being sympathetic to being self-centered. This internal change was caused by the terrors that increasingly built while he remained on the dreadful journey during the Holocaust. Since he felt threatened by everyone else that was alive, he lost his sense of empathy and only had thoughts for himself. When the Holocaust approached to an end, Elie “look[ed] at [himself] in the mirror… [he] had not seen [himself] since

Eliezer had been set up in the situation where he had to act fast about the path that he was going to take since it would’ve caused a great disruption towards himself. He was put into the situation where he had to choose to have his father become thrown off a wagon or have him be kept with Elie and the rest of the prisoners. Elie soon made his decision and called out “Father! Father! Wake up.

For instance, when Elie states, in Chapter 6, “My father’s presence was the only thing that stopped me... What would he do without me? I was his only support.” This quote shows that Eliezer wants to stay alive for his father because his father is old and can't take care of himself. Also it shows that Eliezer truly cares about his dad. He also says, in Chapter 6, “He was running at my side, out of breath, at the end of his strength, at his wit’s end. I had no right to let myself die”. This quotes means Eliezer saw his dad at his worse and wanted to put his dad first. This is why Eliezer continues because his faith for him becomes stronger and he stays with his

After arriving at Buchenwald, Eliezer’s father, Shlomo, becomes very ill. Eliezer gives his father his rations of food and takes care of him. He then chooses to stay with his father acknowledging that even though “I would be an invalid myself. I would not leave my father” (105). Elie sacrifices his belongings and health to ensure the wellbeing of his father, because he has become the only reason for Elie to stay

Eliezer gets through the holocaust with his a partial amount of his humanity intact. Although Eliezer faced a great deal of traumatizing hardships during the holocaust, he still managed to look out for his kin until he simply could no more. From the beginning, he looked out for his father making sure he kept up with the harsh, demanding labor and strict regulations of the nazis. He did absolutely everything in his power to keep his father hopeful and living, but as times began to get unbearable he began to stray away from his original intentions deep in his soul. As Eliezer and his father finally arrived at a new concentration camp after an exhausting journey, Eliezer found himself reluctant at heart to help his father as much as he once did

“The weak die out and the strong will survive, and will live on forever.” That is the case for Eliezer and his father. In the concentration camps, family turns against each other. Eliezer still cherish the fact that his father is still there by his side but his father sometimes acts as a burden for him. In this point of time, Elie seems to be focusing on only himself, and he uses everything to protect himself even if it’s manipulative. I liked how the author informed the readers that life in the concentration camps is extremely overwhelming that family turns against each other. For example, it stated that Eliezer is angry at not Kapo but his

Before the Jewish community and families were ripped apart, Eliezer and his father had a fairly average relationship. Though he honored his father majority of the time, he still dishonored him when he was told he was too young to study Kabbalah, and obtained Moishe the Beadle to help him study anyway. “I succeeded on my own in finding a master for myself in the person of Moishe the Beadle” (Wiesel 4). Eliezer's decision to not listen to his father but to what he wants is an outstanding example of the average father-son relationship. When Eliezer and his father are put into a concentration camp, they’re still father and son; however, their relationship

Elie’s father Shlomo, cared mostly about the community and not much on his son as he “was a cultured man, rather unsentimental. He rarely displayed his feelings, not even within his family, and was more involved with the welfare of others than with that of his own kin” (Wiesel 4). Although distant, Elie accepted the fact that his “father's view was that it was not all bleak, or perhaps he just did not want to discourage the others, to throw salt on their wounds” (Wiesel 11), so they both lived in a correspondence of distance until it was interrupted. The most emotion Elie ever sees his dad emit is when his “father was crying. It was the first time [he] saw him cry. [He] had never thought it possible” (Wiesel 19) until the transportation order came to the ghetto and he could no longer restrain his emotions. Elie and his father are very distant but the Nazis under Hitler’s reign will change this relationship and the pressure to protect

Elie’s “father was always up to his neck in the affairs of the Jewish community and much less well versed in family matters” (40). He is more focused on helping the town rather than his own family. He doesn’t try to have a caring, loving relationship with Elie and the rest of his family, but is distant and neglects to deeply connect with them. Elie further describes his father as a “rather unsentimental man” since “There was never any display of emotion, even at home” (2). His father’s tendency to stray away from his family creates a detached and dispassionate relationship between him and Elie. They struggle to connect with each other and don’t have much in common. Elie and his father have a relatively bleak relation and aren’t close to each