The Holocaust In Elie Wiesel's Night

Elie Wiesel writes about his personal experience of the Holocaust in his memoir, Night. He is a Jewish man who is sent to a concentration camp, controlled by an infamous dictator, Hitler. Elie is stripped away everything that belongs to him. All that he has worked for in his life is taken away from him instantly. He is even separated from his mother and sister. On the other side of this he is fortunate to survive and tell his story. He describes the immense cruel treatment that he receives from the Nazis. Even after all of the brutal treatment and atrocities he experiences he does not hate the world and everything in it, along with not becoming a brute.

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

When Elie and his family are sent to a concentration camp, he is fortunate enough to not be separated from his father. At first, this is a relief, and is father is his will to survive. “The idea of dying, of ceasing to be, began to fascinate me. To no longer exist. To no longer feel the excruciating pain of my foot… My father’s presence was the only thing that stopped me. He was running next to me, out of breathe, out of strength, desperate. I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support.”(86)

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.

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

Throughout the novel, we can understand that in the beginning, the relationship between Elie and his father was not the best because Elie believed his father cared more about the Jewish community than him. However, by the time the father and the son only had each other, they were depending on each other. Elie was only living for his father because he knew his father would not survive without him. They were both helping each other in a ways surviving. For example, Elie gave his father lessons in marching step, to help him survive (55). Also, Elie became less and less emphatic toward his dad during the concentration camp days. The Nazi sabotages the wonderful bond a father and a son had together. Elie could see his own father get beaten up and even than; he had no emotion or anger (39). Once his father got beat up with an iron bar, and Elie did nothing to help him, he just stood there (54). Even thought he had no emotion, even when his father past away, Elie said “I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!...

In the beginning of the book, Elie believed that he no longer had faith, though he had been a compelling believer before. He also reveals the strong relationship he had with his father, and because his father was the only sense of family he had left, he did everything he could to keep his father healthy and alive. In section three of the novel, Elie shows the first sign of loss of faith, “For the first time, I felt anger rising within me… why should I sanctify his name… what was there to thank him for” (Wiesel 33). He believed that the terrible situation he was in, was to surely be blamed on God, due to the unanswered prayers that Elie received. Elie displays the great relationship he possessed with his father in section three as well, “Men to the left… women to the right… eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion... eight simple, short words… yet that was the moment when I left my mother… we were alone” (Wiesel 29). The quote demonstrates the fact that Elie’s family was literally split in half when his sister and mother went to the right and he and his father stayed left. Elie only has his father, so it makes sense for Elie to sacrifice everything for him.

“My father was a cultured man, rather unsentimental.”pg.4. Elie and his father didn't have the best relationship. Elie’s father was high in his community. He didn't show his love for his family as a father would. And this brought cracks to the relationship.He was more concerned about his businesses and community than his own family.

Night tells of an unexplainable tragedy, known as the Holocaust, that affected many parts of Europe. Elie Wiesel’s view of the Holocaust, through his experiences, is able to show that the Holocaust had a strong affect on not just the people enduring it, but also the people that heard about or witnessed it. The readers are introduced to the new perspective of the Holocaust. It caused emotional and physical damage to many of its victims. There were dead bodies along the streets, and people were burned alive. Families were torn apart and friendships were ruined. None of the people had any idea of what was going to be on the road ahead of them, let alone what would happen when they turned the corner. During desperate times, some people seem to

As the novel continues, the previous lack of affinity between Elie and his father later transforms into a type of mutual dependence. After being unwillingly planted into the concentration camps, everyone quickly learns that that type of environment required an “every man for himself” mentality in order to increase their chance for survival. Desperate to cling to their lives, the men readily adopted that way of thought, however, Elie and his father do the opposite as their situation causes them to rely more on each other than ever before. For this reason, after going through selection, Elie, “with all [his] strength.. ran toward Block 36; midway, [he] met his father,” and when they both discovered that both had passed, “[they] were able to breathe

It is a tragedy that the terror and destruction of the Holocaust could have been avoided if the warnings were taken seriously. In Night, by Elie Wiesel, Moshe the Beetle tries to inform the community of his experience, but they do not adhere to his warnings. Similarly, my great-grandmother also sailed across the Atlantic, to warn her relatives. She informed them of the possible danger, but they too did not listen. Likewise, Jan Karski also saw the danger and tried to warn the allied leaders of the upcoming threat. In all three stories, warnings were given and then rejected. This essay will discuss responses to the Holocaust, by examining warnings regarding community members, family members, and Righteous Amongst the Nations. From the very beginning of Hitler’s rise to power, his ultimate goal, was evident in Mein Kampf and threats against Jews should always be taken seriously.

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.

Before Elie and his father’s nightmare began they were very distant from each other. Elie’s father “ rarely displayed his feelings , not even within his family ...” (4). He was emotionless towards everyone. He never communicated

Elie really loved his father but thought about leaving him. Elie stayed