Father And Son Relationships In Night And Life Is Beautiful

"For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are" (Lewis, 1955). This quote by C.S. Lewis (1955) focuses on the power of perception in one's life. In Elie Wiesel's (2006) novel Night, there is a specific perspective of the Holocaust, and in the film "Life is Beautiful" (2000), the perspective is completely different. Although the experiences within each story are quite different, both share the prominent topic of a father/son relationship throughout the Holocaust. However, the father and son were not the only characters who set the entire mood; the Jewish prisoners also added to each story. These different perspectives define each story, as well as the characters within. In the novel Night and in the novel "Life is Beautiful," the Holocaust is experienced both similarly and differently

through the mood, experiences of the Jewish prisoners, and the father/son relationship.
Throughout both Night and "Life is Beautiful," there is a mood of sadness that envelopes both of the stories; however, each story has a different way of perceiving the sadness. In the novel, both Eliezer and his father, Shlomo, are both aware of the torture and horror of the Holocaust, so they each experience sadness, despair, and hopelessness more than any other emotion throughout the story. Elie was exposed to witnessing babies being burned and people being thrown into the flames, which started to cause him to lose his faith in God and his hope for humanity (Wiesel, p. 34). In the film, Guido prevents Joshua from seeing the true sadness and horror of his surroundings and turns it into a game, so Joshua is not aware of the evil around him; therefore, only the audience is experiencing sadness -- not Joshua himself. Guido goes as far as to pretend he can speak German so he can "translate" the game rules, saying, "You can lose all your points for any one of three things. One: If you cry. Two: If you ask to see your mother. Three: If you're hungry and ask for a snack! Forget it!" (2000). This, of course, allowed Joshua to have an enjoyable experience in the Holocaust, while Guido is secretly struggling with the hardship and struggle. In conclusion, both stories have a mood of sadness, but it is perceived differently.
Throughout each story, the relationship between father and son develops the main plot.

The Holocaust is the setting behind it all, but the father and son are what make the stories what they are. In Night, Eliezer and his father stick together at all costs so that they do not go through the concentration camp alone. Since they were immediately separated from the rest of the family, they were all they had. Elie's father eventually got sick, so he took care of his father, gave him food, and did his best to preserve and protect him. Eventually, however, Elie no longer cared to keep him alive and wished his father would die. In "Life is Beautiful," this was not the case whatsoever. It does also start the Holocaust experience with the son and father sticking together, yet the relationship's journey is quite different. From beginning to end, Guido and Joshua were showing each other true love. Up until Guido's death in the camp, he made sure to keep his son safe. In conclusion, both pairs stick together throughout the Holocaust, but the developments of each of the relationships take different

turns.
Although the father and son characters are the most prominent, the Jewish prisoners have a supporting role in each storyline. In Night, the Jewish prisoners are cruel, killing each other over food. Their minds are set on self-preservation, and family is no longer important. In fact, there was a certain point where a son "threw itself over [his father]", killed him, and then "searched him, took the crust of bread, and began to devour it" (Wiesel, p. 98). In "Life is Beautiful," the prisoners act in a significantly different way. When Guido is telling his son about the "game" that is being played, the other Jews said nothing to contradict it, and would play along when his dad would engage them. They never told any German soldiers of the little boy hiding in the room and maintained their humanity. Both stories are affected by the actions of the prisoners, with Night's effect being negative and "Life is Beautiful"'s effect being positive.
Throughout both storylines, the mood, father/son relationship, and Jewish prisoners form the plot into what it is. The mood of sadness was prominent in the novel among every individual character, but the film enlightened it around Joshua so that the only people experiencing the sadness were the audience. The father/son relationship allowed both pairs to persevere together, yet the novel ended with loss of love and devotion and the film's love and devotion only grew. The Jewish prisoners affected the environment around the main characters, with the novel's prisoners becoming animal-like and the film's prisoners remaining calm and peaceful. Although both of these stories have similarities when it comes to the setting, characters, and mood, the difference lies within the perception of the characters within.