In the memoir Night, Elie Wiesel describes his Holocaust experiences with his father in the Nazi German Concentration camps. In the novel, Wiesel writes about the Holocaust in a way that it can't be forgotten. Between 1933-1945 European Jews were the vicitims of a genocide known as the holocaust. Night tells the story of a young Jewish child who endured the misery of the concentration camps ran by the Nazi's, and how this experience changed him forever, This experience changed Elie Wiesel because he endured countless and numerous beatings at the hands of Nazi forces, suffers starvation, and witnesses his own father's death before his very eyes. These events that Elie endures throughout the holocaust transforms his life, his thinking and …show more content…
He goes through a chain of problems that make him question God and his deliberative role. Some problems he goes through that make him question God are when he witnesses the horrific events he experienced during the holocaust. "I did not fast first of all, to please my father who had forbidden me to do so. And then, there was no longer any reason for me to fast. I no longer accepted God's silence. As I swallowed my ration of soup, I turned that act into a symbol of rebellion, of a protest against him" (69). Elie Wiesel "turned '' his back against God because he refused to accept God's silence, which implied that God was not helping him. As a result, Elie Wiesel felt as though God had abandoned him. After spending several months at Auschwitz, Elie and his father were forced to witness the hanging of a small child. Witnessing the lifeless body of the small child dangling for30 minutes caused Elie to question God's genuine existence. "Behind me I heard the same man asking: For God's sake, where is God? And from within me, I heard a voice answer: "Where is he?.." Wiesel believes that God wasn't present when he needed him and wondered where he …show more content…
It does not portray a positive relationship between a father and son. "He began beating him with an iron bar.. I had watched it all happening without moving.. I felt anger at the moment, It was not directed at the Kapo but at my father. Why couldn't he have avoided Idek's wrath?"(54). Elie was not angry at Idek the Kapo while beating his father; he was angry with his father for not protecting himself. At times the reader can see how Elie's relationship with his father significantly improves. They form a tight bond and encourage one another while they go through difficult moments in camp. "Come father. It's better there. You'll be able to lie down. We'll take turns. I'll watch over you and you'll watch over me. We won't let each other fall asleep." This describes the other side of Elie's relationship with his father. In addition to watching out for one another to prevent falling asleep. As you can see Wiesel and his father were crucial to each other for their
Never before have we understood each other so clearly.” (page 68-69). At this point in the story Elie and his father are going through the same hardships at this camp, and because of this they understand each other and know what the other is going through. Therefore the two are showing empathy and their relationship is becoming
This shows how Elie wants his father to realize that he has to fight, not give up. He did not sacrifice his father for its own good, as many children do to their parents in order to survive. However, as the days passed, he began to feel some resentment when he was unable to protect himself from the brutality of the guards instead of pitying
Elie protects and helps his father as well as he does not sacrifice him for his own survival as so many sons have done to their fathers. However as days pass by, he starts to feel some resentment toward his father especially when he is unable to protect himself from the bestiality of the SS instead of pitying him. In addition to that, toward the end of their way to Buchenwald his father becomes weak and cannot move, maybe because of fatigue or loss of hope. He leaves his father and sleeps deeply, when he wakes up, he could not find him and searches for him half-heartedly because a thought tells him maybe he could increase his chance of survival if he was alone. Fortunately, he finds him, ”Father!
Elie has every reason to believe his father would be taken. Elie is becoming much weaker and is unable to work as effectively, yet he no longer regards his own safety as his utmost priority. This is the same Elie who had disobeyed his father’s orders in the past, the same Elie who felt that his father cared more about the community than him. Even after all this, he grows to have his father as such a massive priority for him, that he no longer thinks of his own survival as his number one priority. Elie desperately clings to his father as the last vestige of his former life.
I’ll watch over you and you’ll watch over me. We don’t let each other fall asleep. We’ll look after each other”(Wiesel 89.) However, as time progresses, Elie’s protectiveness over his dad fades and he starts caring about himself more. He realizes that in order to come out of this alive, one can’t be sensitive and they need to care for themselves.
In addition to this, death is a very sudden and sorrowful incursion into one's life regardless of age. Not only did Wiesel have to deal with his Father’s death while witnessing it, but he also had been starving for a multitude of days while witnessing this horrific situation. He later relates that “The officer came closer and shouted to him to be silent. But my father did not hear. He continued to call me.
On the train to the new concentration camp one guard commands everyone to “throw out all the dead … [ then suddenly Elie] woke [up] from [his slumber and] threw [himself] on top of his [father’s] body” to wake him up from his feeble state (104). This shows his commitment to his father because it showed what he was willing to do for his beloved father. This represents the choice of family commitment up to this point. His love for his father made him burst from his nap to protect his father from any harm, even though it went against the guard's order Elie protected his father, causing their bond to strengthen even more. Once they made it to the other camp their bond would become even more defined.
Even after the holocaust and after the camps he still questioned his faith in
The theme he develops is that even the most faithful people question God. This is seen on pages 67-68 when Elie questions God for letting bad things happen to people who believe in him. This theme is further explored on page 66 where Elie asks God where he is and why he would do this. These examples show how badly the Nazis treated them for them to disbelieve in their
To break rank, to let myself slide to the side of the road… My father's presence was the only thing that stopped me." Elie helps and protects his father at all costs, even at his own. His commitment and devotion to his father made him continue enduring the suffering and pain, and avoided the idea of dying. Elie consistently puts his father's well-being before his own, as evidenced by several key moments in the book.
The road to a relationship with God is not straight, it is ever changing with challenges and curves and ups and downs. This is a main theme in the memoir Night, by Elie Wiesel, where Elie has a struggling relationship with God. He thinks that God has abandoned him and his dad so he does not feel the need to continue his relationship with God. Elie was excited about his faith but the holocaust makes him feel angry and confused with God. Elie 's faith excites him from a young age and he wants to learn more about God.
Elie’s relationship with his dad over the course of the story changed drastically. The quote, “My father was running left to right exhausted, consoling friends,” (pg 15) shows the reader that Elie 's father tried to keep everyone calm, which means he always did the same for Elie. That shows they had a strong relationship at the start of the story. Accordingly, the quote, “Father! Father!
For instance, Wiesel claimed, “For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?”(Wiesel 33) Wiesel wants God help him. He wants God to speak to him and help escape the Hell he is living.
Elie Wiesel was a deeply religious person. He believed in god and always looked to him in times of need. He always thought he could rely on god to keep him safe and protect him from anything. After he was sent to concentration camps, he began to lose his faith in god. He once said “But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing…
Before they were sent to concentration camps, Elie and his father had a common/typical father-son relationship. Now, they both heavily rely on each other and all they have is each other. I think they have both come to represent the only reason for living to the other. Elie seems to have constant suicidal thoughts, but his want to stay with his father always seems to slightly deter them. I’m sure his father thinks in the same way, if not more.