Adversity In Night By Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night is a great depiction of the holocaust from the perspective of a survivor and is a must read for holocaust research. Night tells the story of Wiesel and his father as they try to survive the concentration camp, Auschwitz. Throughout the story, several relationships of others fall apart and they don’t make it. However, Elie and his father rely on each other to survive which is a key part in Elie’s survival and why Elie’s father lasted so long. The memoir Night shows how strong relationships are needed to overcome adversity.
Wiesel begins the memoir by showing his strong relationship with God and the strength of the community when they first came under Nazi occupation. He introduces readers to his mentor, Moishe the

Elie and his father are separated from Elie’s mother and sister, who were sent to the gas chambers. Elie and his father however, make it to the selection. While waiting, they meet a very kind man in line who ends up saving their lives. The man asks them, “Hey kid, how old are you?” “Fifteen.” No, you’re eighteen. But I’m not,” I said. “I’m fifteen.” “Fool. Listen to what I say.” Then he asked my father, who answered: “I’m Fifty.” “No.” The man now sounded angry. “Not fifty. You're forty. Do you hear? Eighteen and forty.” (30). If it weren’t for this man, Elie and his father would probably have been on their way to the gas chambers along with the rest of their family. At first, Jews are united in the fight to survive but as we see later in the book, men will do anything they could to survive, even at the cost of their own family. Even through all of those collapsed relationships, Elie and his father rely on each other up until the moment of Elie’s fathers passing. When Elie and his father make it through the selection thanks to the help of the man, Their hopes are immediately derailed when another Jewish man tells them that they are headed straight for the crematorium, and with flames in sight, all hope they had to survive was immediately lost. When hope is lost, Elie’s father starts to pray and this is when Elie starts to lose faith. “For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why

This part of the memoir is where their relationship shines and where they have to rely on each other the most. One part later in the memoir, Elie injures his foot and has to go to the infirmary for a while. During this time, the camp was evacuated due to Russians. Unsure of his fate if he stays in the infirmary, Elie makes a decision. “What are we going to do?” My father didn’t answer. “What are we going to do?” He was lost in thought. The choice was in our hands. For once. We could decide our fate for ourselves. To stay, both of us, in the infirmary, where, thanks to my doctor, he could enter as either a patient or a medic. I had made up my mind to accompany my father wherever he went” (82). Elie makes a decision in a time of despair to follow his father. This is very significant because if they had stayed, they would have been liberated by the Russians. While on the very packed train, after not receiving any food for three days, there is a piece of bread in the cart. An old man landed the bread and was soon beaten by a man who he discovered was his son. “Meir, my little Meir! Don’t you recognize me… You’re killing your father… I have bread… for you too… for you too…”(101). A man killing his own father for a piece of bread. This shows how rough these times were and how tortured these Jews were. Murdering people for little rations. This also shows why the