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How were Jews treated when the war started
How did Elie change throughout the story
Elie has lost faith, lost his family, his home, and childhood
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Recommended: How were Jews treated when the war started
"A prolonged whistle split the air. The wheels began to grind. We were on our way." (xx). From living a somewhat happy life to being starved and miserable, Elie and his father learn to live in different circumstances and potentially losing or gaining things important in their lives. Throughout the ways Elie has changed, how has he changed with his relationship with God his one thing he realize on, his father, and how has his physical health which was once heathy, changed?
Elie Wiesel had a very strong religion and always wanted to improve his faith but when the war came he began to lose all faith that he couldn't find anything to believe in anymore, because of all the horrible things that went on in the camps and the working
In the beginning, Elie and his father's relationship was very distant and they both had different views, such as that Elie wanted to seek out a master, but his father didn't want him to. They soon learned to let go of the hate, that they became closer and they depended more on each other. Elie started to take care of his father because he was getting sick and weak, so Elie had to learn to become accustomed to not just taking care of himself. Towards the end of the his father was very sick on their march to the next camp, and he just wanted to sleep so he could rest, but Elie knew that if he did he would die in his sleep so Elie made sure that they stayed awake and try to live until the war ends. "I can't anymore... It's over.... I shall die right here..." (CV) But his father died just three months before the camp was
In the beginning, Eli seemed like a normal teenager with a normal family with a home and food, which probably meant he was pretty healthy. But soon as the war begins, he starts to become skinny because they hardly got fed. They were fed a portion of bread and soup most days, but others they might have gone without food. So at the end of the war, Elie was so skinny and malnutrition, he needed to go to a hospital to recover. He said he couldn't even recognize himself. "From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me." (CXV)
Elie has changed in many ways, but he had changed more through losing his faith with God, getting closer with his father, then having to lose him to death, and becoming a walking corpse. Hitler had costed him his religion, his father, and his health. With learning about the past, we, the citizens of today, can hopefully avoid having this horrible time in history recur and try to make better
At the beginning of the book, Elie mentioned that his father, Shlomo, was admired and respected by all the family members. Outside the family, “The Jewish community of Sighet held him in highest esteem” (Wiesel 4). Through the first few days in the concentration camps, Elie had relied on his father’s presence and protection to get him through his daily life. He was dependent on him as evident during the initial selection when he states that “My hand ti...
Physically, Elie basically changes from a healthy human being into a walking skeleton. Jews can be described as “skin and bones”. They were also extremely weak. Being forced to work at their labor camps must have been extremely difficult. The lack of food served at the camps, as well as the poor quality of what is being served, made him that way.
When his father was beat up by the guard or even he was getting beat up by the Kapo. Elie could only think of himself, which is a good thing not wanting to get hurt for others in my opinion. Also, when Rabbi’s son ran away from him I would guess Elie would think of the same thing but instead wanted to protect his father. Then last when Elie’s father was about to die his last words was, “Elizer” which was Elies name. Elie was finally think that his duty is over on protecting his father. Also, Elie also thought, “free at last” which meant his can fend for him. So, his relationship with his father wasn’t good. Cause Elie thought the reason he is alive because of his father. That is why his relationship with his father wasn’t a good
For example, in one of the cattle car rides in between camps, workers were throwing pieces of bread into the karts for amusement. The consequence of this is that the Jews began fighting each other for the few crumbs. This effect one elder jew to sneak into the fighting to snatch a two pieces one for him and one for his son, however he is attacked and killed by his own son for the food and is only a few seconds after that killed by onlookers for the food. The results in Elie promising to himself to never be like that and to take care of his father, however he later on when his father gets sick he thinks it better if he were to die so he can focus on his own survival. He then feels ashamed for thinking so and those are some of the last thoughts he has about his father before his dismissal and is affected even greatly because of
However, there were warnings by some people that Jewish people were being deported and killed. Although no one believes these warnings, Elie and his family are taken to a ghetto where they have no food. After being in the ghetto, Elie and his father were separated from Elie’s mother and sister because of selection and were placed in cattle cars where they had no room. They are taken to Auschwitz where they suffer from hunger, beatings, and humiliation from the guards which causes Elie’s father to become weak. By now Elie has lost his faith in God because of all he has been through.
Almost every Jew had a conflict with themselves. As a hole they had to fight to keep going. Thats because most of them were starving and lost their families. Most jews turned against each other to survive. They even went as far as to kill each other to get food to survive(101 ). This effected Elie because he had to see his own people turn against each other.
Physically, the Jews changed very drastically in the story. In Night, Elie says “The SS pushed us in 100 to a carriage, we were so thin.” (pg.92). This shows that they had changed so much because earlier in the story it says they fit 80 people to a carriage. From them being able to fit 100 people into one of these carriages, we see that these people were so thin they looked like corpses, and they probably felt
During their journey, Elie loses his father due to illness however does not feel much emotion. After witnessing his own die, Elie “did not weep” and “deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!...” (Wiesel 112). While going through the camp Buna, Elie and his father had develops a strong relationship with one another. However, after his father’s death, Elie “did not weep” and displays very little towards the event. Elie had felt that his father was a liability for his own survival and did not feel the need to weep over his death. Elie also states that he was “Free at last” showing that throughout the course of the novel Elie had thought as his father as pulling him back from survival. The reason for Elie feels this way is because Elie is still on his journey and his primary goal is to survive through the camps. Elie has become quite desperate through his journey of survival and searches the “recesses of my feeble conscience” for his most inner thoughts. Throughout the novel, Elie had been storing these thoughts in the back of mind. These thoughts include him thinking of his father as liability and him being free from him. At their first arrival at the camps, Elie and his father had been very close to one another going through their journey of survival. However, after
Elie really needs and wants his father to live. When the SS guards yell "Throw out all the dead! Corpses outside!" the guards were going to throw Elie's father out but Elie said, "I threw myself on top of his body, he was cold. I slapped him. I rubbed his hands crying: Father! Father! Wake up! They are trying to throw you out of the carriage" The SS guards yelled" Leave him. You can see perfectly well that he's dead." Elie replied, "No! He isn't dead! not yet!!" On page 286 of the interview with Oprah, Elie explains how he needed his father to live and survive himself by saying "As long as my father was alive, i wanted to live- but only because of him. After he died, between January and April [of the year we were released], I didn't really live."
Also, he remained calm when his father was harassed by the guards. In the book, Elie said “Then I had to go to sleep”(Wiesel 112) and after his father’s death, the thing he said wasn’t about his sadness. It was about his freedom. He said, “Free at last”(Wiesel 112). Elie is not the old Elie anymore.
His father is getting old, and weak, and Elie realizes his father does not have the strength to survive on his own, and it is too late to save him. "It's too late to save your old father, I said to myself..."(pg 105). He felt guilty because he could not help his father, but he knew the only way to live is to watch out for himself. "Here, every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else. Even of his father..."(pg 105). He thinks of himself, and
Elie, who was a teenager at the time of the novel, stood by his father’s side and assisted his father through physical challenges they had to face. Wiesel writes “I decided to give my father lessons in marching in step, in keeping time” (page 55). This shows that Elie is helping his father avoid the “selection” by giving him marching lessons to help him survive the death march. Elie stayed by his father’s side even in the harshest conditions. Elie writes “my father’s presence was the only thing that stopped me. He was running next to me out of breath, out of strength, desperate. I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support” (page 86-87). This shows that Elie remained loyal to his father by staying with him no matter what. In conclusion Elie is considered a hero because of the familial commitment choice to stand by his
Self-sufficiency was encouraged throughout the concentration camps, therefore Elie was forced to grow up and leave his innocence behind. Because of this self-reliance, many started to view their friends and family as a burden rather than a motivation.
In the beginning of the memoir, Elie is an extremely passionate and devout Jew, but as the story progresses, Elie sees horrendous things in the concentration camps, and as a result, he slowly loses his faith. Elie displays his extreme devotion in the beginning stages of the memoir when he states, “By day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple. I cried because something inside me felt the need to cry” (Wiesel 4). Elie is clearly very fond of learning more about his religion and connecting to God in a spiritual way. Furthermore, Elie is only thirteen years old, so when he says he cries because he feels the need to cry, he is exhibiting incredible passion. Elie reveals signs of change and begins to lose his faith in God just a few moments after arriving at the concentration camp when he says, “Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes” (Wiesel 34). Elie exclaims that he cannot worship God anymore due to the awful things he has seen at Auschwitz. He does not want to believe in the being that could have allowed these awful events to happen. This is a completely different Elie from the loving and caring Elie in the ghetto. Elie also uses rep...
This new behavior lead him to develop new character traits. While Ellie was in the concentration camp he became angry at many things, for example “I would have dug my nails into the criminals flesh” (Wisel 39). Elie shows extreme anger when the Nazi officials are beating Elie’s father. Elie was angry because the Nazi soldiers were not treating them nicely and putting them in poor conditions. Elie is usually not a person for anger but he shows this when his family members are being hurt. Elie wants to stand up for what is right and for his family members. Despite his studying, Elie wavered in his belief in Kabbalah while he was at the camp. In the book Elie says, “‘Where are You, my God?’” (66). Elie is wondering why God is not helping the Jews. Elie had complete faith in his religion until now, when he is starting to question his beliefs. He had learned that God will punish evil and save the righteous. However, when Elie saw that God was not helping the Jews situation then asked himself the question, “Is God real?”. Elie became worried because he felt he had lost a companion that always seemed by his side at all times. He lost hope. While Elie was in the camp he had changed the way he acted towards his Dad. Before Elie was sent to the camp Elie had a love hate relationship with his dad. However while they were in the camp together they became closer. Elie showed this when, “I tightened my grip on my