Ciel By Elie Wiesel Analysis

Ciel is the third son born to a family of five children, his mothers family hailing from Noctil while his father's hailed from a minor but old noble family in Soleli, so combined with five children and parents from very different upbringings Ciel had a pretty interesting childhood. Early on in his life Ciel was taught to appreciate and cherish what he had and be kind as a child because his mother told him that not everyone was lucky enough to have a home and kindness could save lives. While not the best thing to say to a four year old, that little bit of advise would stick with Ciel the rest of his life. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Ciel didn't spend much time with his father as a child due to the fact his older brothers usually kept the man busy or Ciel was hiding so he didn't have to learn 'samurai'. His favorite hiding spot was his mother's garden, where he would sit and listen to stories about her own childhood with his little sisters, always begging to hear more, much to his mothers amusement.

This didn't last long though.

Eventually his father caught on to his little disappearing acts and would chase him down to the garden, dragging him away from his very amused wife and snickering daughters. Ciel was forced to sit in on lessons now, even the boring 'samurai' ones, and every time he tried to escape he'd get caught. Eventually his father caught on that Ciel was 100% not interested in learning how to use a sword he just gave up. So Ciel ran back to his mother who had an idea. Why not try a different weapon? After this idea struck her, she steered him towards a naginata and thought of a more interesting style to teach him. It worked too! When asked how his mother knew this would work she just smiled and said she'd tell him when he's

older.

Time passed and relations between Soleli and Noctil got worse. Ciel's mother slowly withdrew from society due to guilt. It was around this time Ciel learned that his mother was from Noctil. While neither parents kept this fact a secret they really hadn't come out and said it, but all the life lessons and stories from his mother's life made sense now. Unfortunately the guilt was too much for his mother and depression started to eat away at her until she just locked herself away. None of the children could figure out what to do and their father couldn't help either since he wasn't at home anymore. Ciel's sister decided to take up healing while his older brother's stayed home, guarding the house and their mother. Ciel was stuck though. He didn't know how to help. He wanted to help those who suffered from the war but also help his kingdom with the war. Against his brother's protest Ciel joined the army after thinking about it and became a Sky Knight.