Elie Wiesel's Night: Fathers and sons
Over the course of Elie Wiesel's novel Night, the protagonist Eliezer gradually begins to lose his faith in God. He sinks deeper and deeper into the evils of the Holocaust, first in the ghetto, then in the Nazi concentration camp. As Eliezer's views on religion begin to change, so does his relationship with his father. He begins the novel still a young boy, and regards his father as powerful and full of strength. Gradually, he is stripped of his boyhood illusions as well as his faith, and comes to regard his father as an ordinary mortal. He grows frustrated with his father's physical weakness, and assumes the role of occasionally reluctant protector of the older man, rather than the adolescent he was before. The relationship betwee Eliezer and God, and his loss of faith in God parallels that of the loss of faith in his father. [Thesis] One reason Eliezer comes to lose his faith is because of the way he sees the human character of the victims corrupted in the death camps. In the ghetto, there was at least some unity and solidarity amongst the persecuted Jews. In the death camps, survival is the only priority. Eliezer's mother and sister are taken away; he is left alone with his father with the men. Eliezer's father, ignored warnings of the horrors of the death camps when the family was still living in the ghetto. Almost immediately, upon coming to Auschwitz, Eliezer exhibits religious skepticism when seeing the sights of the bodies
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.
“I have not lost faith in God [despite] moments of anger and protest; sometimes I have been closer to him for that reason.” Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel explains the struggle of his changing beliefs in God during the Holocaust in his memoir Night. In Night, Elie Wiesel, a religious boy, is taken to several concentration camps along with other Jews, and separated from everyone in his family except for his father. He and his father live dangerous lives in the concentration camps, from being beaten, watching other prisoners die, and being close to death, until eventually Elie’s father dies and the camp is liberated. As Elie Wiesel’s time in the Holocaust lengthens, his devoutness in God begins to diminish.
In the story, Night by Elie Wiesel, there were many different types of relationships of father and son. The relationship with a son mistreating his father, a son leaving his father to die, a son attack a father just for his food and lastly the relationship between the author and his own son. It is true that self-preservation is a human instinct in which we all have, but would it be enough ruin everything between a father and son. It seems like nothing can separate a father and a son relationship since from the beginning a father will see their son like someone that can be a mini them. Just one thing can ruin everything, the feeling of only caring about yourself, self-preservation.
During the years prior to Elie's Wiesel's experience in the Holocaust, Elie and his father shared a distant relationship that lacked a tremendous amount of support and communications but, eventually, their bond strengthens as they rely on each other for survival and comfort.
One of the major themes that can be found in Night, by Elie Wiesel, is one of father/son relationships. To quote a father from the book, Stein, “The only thing that keeps me alive is knowing that Reizel and the little ones are still alive.” Not all father/son relationships are as good however. Another part of the book reads, “I once saw. . . a boy of thirteen, beat his father for not making his bed properly. As the old man quietly wept, the boy was yelling, ‘If you don’t stop crying instantly, I will no longer bring you bread. Understood?’” In presenting examples like these, Wiesel communicates a message of the importance of good father/son relationships to his readers. This paper will examine father/son relationships throughout the book,
The book Night is a memoir about Eliezer Wiesel’s greuling holocaust experience. This book discusses the the grim conditions and treatment that Mr. Weisel endured during this dark time period. Elie changed in many ways while in the camp because of the dreadful things he experienced. This essay will be focusing on the physical, spiritual, and mental changes that Eliezer went through.
In Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie and his father’s relationship before the concentration camps consists of little emotion shared between each other; their estranged relationship leaves no room for them to show affection towards each other. In Sighet before the Holocaust, Elie’s father engages more with the citizens of the town than with his own family. Later, when Elie and his father arrive in their first concentration camp in Birkenau, they grow closer very quickly, relying on each other to continue their fight to live with the little food and harsh treatments. When Elie and his father live their lives before the Holocaust in Sighet, his father spends most of his time tending to the needs of the community and less to the needs of his family; however, when the two of them arrive in Birkenau, their relationship rapidly changes as his father plays the role of a supportive parent and Elie the helpful son.
In Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie wrote about his journey through the Holocaust and how it impacted his faith. Before the Holocaust, Elie became very passionate about Judaism, but his learning was stopped abruptly because the Nazis had arrived. The Nazis took away his teacher, along with his neighbors. Soon, the Nazis came back for the remaining citizens and loaded them into a train. This was the beginning of the Holocaust, in which Elie would experience many horrific events. Throughout Night, Elie’s faith decreases because of the harsh conditions of concentration camps and the declining health of his father.
Eliezer and Schlomo's father-son relationship is the reason Elie had hope throughout the Holocaust. After the selection at the arrival of Auschwitz., Elie and his father had to walk towards the fire pits, where babies, children, and adults are being thrown in. Elie and his father thought that this was their fate as well. Such a traumatizing event brings forth a critical quote spoken from Schlomo, "You should have gone with your mother". This in context, references to the selection, as Schlomo did not want to see his son die. Another idea used to portray this extreme idea of mental torture was a thought from Eliezer, where he wants to throw himself into the electric fence to escape the brutal death of burning in the pits. This started
As days went by in the concentration camp, many begin to lose their faith in religion just like Elie. The book, Night is written by Elie Wiesel, a winner of the Nobel Peace prize. In the book Night, Elie is the main character who is very religious at first. It begins with his family and him traveling to Auschwitz which his little sister and mother die. With only his father and him, they went through many hardships and moving from camp to camp. Unfortunately, Elie father did not survive the Holocaust but Elie did. By the end of the story, Elie did entirely lose his faith in God because he did not celebrate the important holidays, questioned God and his justice, and tries to forget his existence.
In Night, Elie Wiesel shares his experience of the Holocaust, where he loses his family and his friends. the dehumanization used on the Jews changed their views on the things they believe in. In the beginning Elie was a religious boy who never doubted God but then gradually his faith starts changing to believing in food and things he can only see. Elie Wiesel is telling readers that people's beliefs are weak and are easily controlled when they are in a
As a 12-year-old boy living with his family in the town of Sighet, Eliezer was a devout and studious Orthodox Jew studying both the Talmud and the Kabbalah and faithfully following Jewish law. When asked why did he pray, he thought it was such a strange question, his faith is shown when he thinks to himself, “Why did I pray? Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” (Wiesel 4). He believes that God is everywhere and since God is everywhere and we are all a reflection of God that good must be everywhere and within everyone. Unfortunately, once the Germans move into his town
The Holocaust was a very terrible time in history over six million Jews perished in concentration camps. Even though in every tragedy there are survivors. Elie Wiesel was a little boy when all of this happened. He experienced all of the terrible things that happened during this time frame. While suffering in the terrible condition of the camp Elie and his father’s relationship goes through a drastic change.
Though faithful as they enter the horrific camps of Auschwitz, Bergen Belsen, Buna, Birknau, Dachau, and Buchenwald, the Jews become capricious. They start losing grip and begin falling down the slippery slope of death the Germans set up for them as more horrors of the camps become unveiled. Soon after arriving in the camp and being told about the crematoria, he felt “anger rising with me [Elie]. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent” (33). This is the first time that his faith is challenged. After a few days in Auschwitz he “had ceased to pray. I [Elie] was not denying His existence, but doubted His absolute justice” (45). As seen, Elie is beginning to have doubts about God and therefore his belief and faith in him. Finally, when Elie is looking for God to come though he doesn’t and he asks,
In the beginning of the novel Eliezer loves his religion and especially loves his family. When Eliezer and his father arrive at Auschwitz they are being put into categories. Eliezer says “I didn’t know this was the last moment in time and place where I was leaving my mother Tzipora forever. I kept walking, my father holding my hand.”(Eliezer 29) Eliezer makes this statement as if he was never going to see his sister and mother again due to the Nazis. But as Eliezer