Endurance in Night by Eli Wiesel

In the Face of Adversity

“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no help at all.� Dale Carnegie believed that perseverance could overcome even the harshest obstacles. Perseverance is inspired by a purpose, an unsatisfied drive to achieve a goal. During a cataclysmic event, only people with a purpose endure.
In Night, Eliezer endures the Holocaust with a purpose to keep his father alive. He is a 15 years old boy when he and Chlomo began their journey through the perilous camps of Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald. Eventually, Eliezer loses his faith in God but not in his father. “He had felt that his father was growing weak, he had believed that the end was near and had sought this separation in order to get rid the burden, to free himself from an encumbrance … My God, Lord of the Universe, give me strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahou’s son has done…�(87).

The motivation Eliezer has to endure is to keep his father alive. Even though his father is a constant burden, Eliezer is determined never to desert his father like Rabbi’s Eliahou’s son attempts. Even when Chlomo becomes sick with dysentery, Eliezer stays by his side. He gives his father his own soup, forfeits his own bread, and even tries to get a doctor to help. “For a ration of bread, I managed to change beds with a prisoner in my father’s bunk…� (1...