How Does Wiesel Present Eliezer's Relationship In Night

947 Words2 Pages

Eleven million people have died during the Holocaust, among those, there were at least one million dead in Auschwitz alone. The concentration camps were a horrible place to live for all Jewish people during the war. Although there were many dead and dying in these camps, Auschwitz helped strengthen the bond between Eliezer Wiesel, the author of the bestselling memoir, Night, and his father. During the course of the memoir Night ,by Elie Wiesel and Marion Wiesel, Eliezer's relationship with his father changes from distant to loving and emotionallly open as the relationship roles reverse. Eliezer becomes the caretaker for his father while his father becomes the one needing guidance. The reader can learn to love and respect one's parents and …show more content…

Eliezer stays alive for his father and his father stays alive for him. At the beginning of chapter five, during the evening of Rosh Hashanah, Eliezer and his father meet up after saying prayers. Wiesel explains, “I felt a tear on my hand. Whose was it? Mine? His? I said nothing. Nor did he. Never before had we understood each other so clearly.” (Weisel 117). This quote supports the fact that Eliezer and his father have built a very sturdy, loving relationship because of their similar struggles. It also hints that Wiesel is beginning to develop the dynamic factor of the relationship between father and son almost as if it too is a character that influences the memoir. They both benefit from taking care of each other. Another example of reliance on each other is shown during chapter six as Eliezer and his father are being separated from each other after the selection. The day after Juliek's death, Eliezer and his father are almost separated as his father is classified as weak. Eliezer recalls, “[His] father was sent to the left. [He] ran after him." (Wiesel 155). This action, as Wiesel explains more specifically in the memoir, left some people shot and dead. Eliezer is willing to sacrifice his and his father's lives for a slim chance that they do

Open Document