Family is the only thing that will be there till the end. The closest family members may often be your parents, who will help you through anything just as Shlomo Wiesel did to Elie. Shlomo was the reason Elie kept fighting even though in other father-son relationships the father was the one holding them back. Even though Shlomo got sick and made it difficult for Elie to keep going, it was still him that supported him from the beginning, and guided him all the way to the end. Many father-son relationships including the pipel that beat his father for not making his bed correctly (Wiesel 63), a son that killed his father (101), and Rabbi Eliahou whose son left him are critical to understand how special of a bond Elie had with his father (91). …show more content…
Just for a morsel of bread, a son killed his own father who was trying to take it for himself (101). Elie gave some of his ration away to his father when he was sick, but still struggled with that (111). All he wanted to do was not become like that kid, and keep his father alive so he could preserve the little bit of normal life he had. He wasn’t that much different from that kid though, they both were equal to their fathers and could overcome them if they wished. That equality quickly fell when Shlomo was overtaken by dysentery and Elie had to take the role as the father figure.
Elie cared for his father hesitantly at the end of the book (Wiesel 107). He debated if it was worth his effort to help Shlomo, and was almost persuaded by a Blockälteste (110). Luckily he did not abandon his father like Rabbi Eliahou’s son did (91). Through great struggle he was able to overcome his inner demons and continue to support his father. The only time he did nothing to help his father with was in his father’s death scene where he did not respond to his cries.
The sons of Rabbi Eliahou, the murdered man, and the whimpering man are symbols of Elie’s struggles with his father throughout the book. Those struggles were overcome most of the time, and when they were not his father died. Given Opportunity Elie would have answered his father’s calls and continued his caring for him so he wouldn't be put into a category with the other people's
He rarely displayed his feelings, not even within his family, and was more involved with the welfare of others than with his own kin.” This quote describes how Elie’s father is a well-round person who is more concerned over the people within his community than himself. This shows that he is companionate towards his community and is respected by all. He is considerate towards how people act and feel. , and maintains this leader-like role for his community, including his own son Elie. Elie sees his father as a role model and a person who is knowledgeable enough to handle difficult situations, or at least that is what Elie
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
In Eliezer Wiesel’s novel “Night”, it depicts the life of a father and son going through the concentration camp of World War II. Both Eliezer and his father are taken from their home, where they would experience inhuman and harsh conditions in the camps. The harsh conditions cause Eliezer and his father’s relationship to change. During their time in the camps, Eliezer Wiesel and his father experience a reversal of their roles.
Eliezer thinks of his own father and prays, “Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done” (Wiesel 91). He didn’t want to admit it but he could already feel his father falling behind. He feared that there may come a time when he would have to choose between his father and his own survival, and that was a choice he didn’t want to make. That choice came one night after being transferred by train to another camp. Once off the train they waited in the snow and freezing wind to be shown to their quarters.
Devotion towards another human being must be developed, it does not occur instantaneously. In the autobiography Night, Elie was not so much concerned with the welfare of his family while living in Sighet, Transylvania. Elie goes against his father when it comes to his religious studies, “One day I asked my father to find me a master who could guide me in my studies of the Kabbalah. ‘You are too young for that’” (Wiesel 4). Just as most children, Elie does not accept his father’s answer. Elie finds his own teacher, Moishe the Beadle. When forced into the struggles of concentration camp, Elie becomes faithful to his father. Elie does not have any friends or family members left. For this reason, his father becomes the reason for life itself. This devotion towards his father alters the reasons for his life’s continuance as a whole. This can be seen as life in the camp continues and Elie develops a selfless attitude. His only concern lies in the health of his loving father. Elie states, “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” (Wiesel 86). This insta...
Upon their arrival of Birkenau, Elie was stuck like glue to his father “I felt the pressure of my father’s hand: we were alone.” (pg. 27) He would do anything to make sure his father did not feel a burden for him “ I bit my lips so that my father did not hear my teeth chattering.” (pg. 31) For some reason, Eliezer felt that it was his responsibility to care for his father and make him as relaxed as possible. Despite that, he eventually started to drift away from his original intentions. While his father was on his deathbed he begged for water, and frequently Eliezer would deliver him some, except for one time. During this one time, his father yelled out and was told several times to be quiet. Eliezer lay on the top bunk of the bed and watched the SS men deal him a violent blow on the head. Even after, he begged again for water and Ellie just lay there until the morning when he discovered his father was taken away to the crematories. If this were to happen in the very beginning, Eliezer would have gone right to his father's side with some water to hush him
First of all, the father-son relationship between Eliezer and his father in the novel experiences an emotional change. At first, the relationship between these two characters is rather stressed and awkward. They were ever close to each other, and Eliezer illustrates the painful atmosphere by describing, “My father was a cultured, rather unsentimental man. There was never any display of emotion, even at home. He was more concerned with others than with his own family” (Wiesel 2). Eliezer’s father barely expressed his feelings or any signs of emotion towards Eliezer, in consequence created a huge space in their relationship. The important role Eliezer’s father plays in the Jewish community, Sighet, shou...
The Holocaust will forever be known as one of the largest genocides ever recorded in history. 11 million perished, and 6 million of the departed were Jewish. The concentration camps where the prisoners were held were considered to be the closest one could get to a living hell. There is no surprise that the men, women, and children there were afraid. One was considered blessed to have a family member alongside oneself. Elie Wiesel was considered to be one of those men, for he had his father working side by side with him. In the memoir Night, by Elie Wiesel, a young boy and his father were condemned to a concentration camp located in Poland. In the concentration camps, having family members along can be a great blessing, but also a burden. Elie Wiesel shows that the relationship with his father was the strength that kept the young boy alive, but was also the major weakness.
In addition, after the head of the block tells Elie to abandon his father, Elie thinks, “It’s too late to save your old father, I said to myself. You ought to have two rations of bread, two rations of soup. Only a fraction of a second, but I felt guilty. I ran to find a little soup to give my father”(80). At the beginning of the quote, Elie was tempted to desert his father and steal his father’s assets for himself.
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."
Without a doubt, some decisions can affect not only the person making the decision, but also his most beloved ones. Elie truly understands this as he tells himself, “I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support” (87). The purpose of Elie’s survival is to provide hope to his father, and to strengthen his desire to live. Indeed, his thoughts are not about his own survival at this point, but instead, to encourage his father to continue living. When one of them gives up, the other has no intention of continuing his life. As Elie’s father falls asleep, Eliezer tells his father, “’We’ll take turns. I’ll watch over you and you’ll watch over me. We won’t let each other fall asleep. We’ll look after each other”’ (89). When father and son rely on one another, it gives them more motivation to pass by the difficult situati...
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
He could not believe that the God he followed tolerated such things. During times of sorrow, when everyone was praying and sanctifying His name, Elie no longer wanted to praise the Lord; he was at the point of giving up. The fact that the “Terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent”(33) caused Elie to lose hope and faith. When one chooses to keep silent about such inhumanity going on, they are just as destructive as the one causing the brutality.... ...