Chapter Summary Of Night By Elie Wiesel

6. Chapter Six
Wiesel and his father evacuate with the remaining inmates, marching while the SS directed insults towards them, even going to call them “flea-ridden dogs” (85). As they continue, Wiesel realizes that they were practically running “like machines,” no one lagging behind out of fear of being shot by the SS (85). After witnessing the death of a young boy who fell behind, he contemplates doing the same and declares that “the idea of dying… fascinated [him]” (86). The pain that he was in was so great, that he wished to die in order to end it all. However, the thought of his father held him back from giving up. He was “his sole support” and aware that his father wouldn’t last long without him. This is a reversal of the typical father

The group finally came to a halt at an abandoned village, stuck in the freezing cold, where the harsh winter appeared to be claiming lives. Not long after they arrive, a rabbi immerges from a shed and begins to ask for his son. Wiesel tells him that he hasn’t seen him, but later realizes that Rabbi Eliahu’s son was the young boy who had died earlier. He then begins to wonder if the son had died in order to escape his father, believing that “this separation would free him” (91). Wiesel’s situation is somewhat similar to Rabbi Eliahu’s, and he desperately hopes that he will never see his father as a burden. The group is soon ordered to begin marching again, and in the process, Wiesel gets crushed underneath corpses. As he tries to escape, he recognizes Juliek, one of the violin players from the Buna orchestra. Despite facing death, Juliek only seems to care about his violin breaking. And even though he was trampled over, it remained in good enough condition to play, resulting in Juliek performing for an “audience of the dead

The previously horrifying crematorium “no longer impressed [them],” due to the extreme terrors that they had faced on their journey alone (104). The inmates were numb on the inside, lacking emotion at this point. Meanwhile, Wiesel’s father was currently on the edge of death. However, Wiesel seemed to be more upset with the fact that he did not feel any remorse or sadness over his father’s condition, and was only “weary that his silence left [him] indifferent” (104). Wiesel battles with these conflicting feelings as he remains at Buchenwald, feeling ashamed with himself for seeing his father’s death as a weight off of his shoulders. Though, he is pleased with himself after aiding his father and giving him coffee, believing that the small seeming gesture had “given [his father] more satisfaction than during [his] entire childhood” (107). Wiesel comes to the realization that he does not have the same affection for his father as he had had before, comparing himself to Rabbi Eliahu’s son, who had left his father without a second thought. After receiving advice from the Blockalteste, Wiesel begins to think of the ways his father’s death could benefit him, but immediately regrets thinking like this. His loyalty is soon put to the test as his father is caught calling for him as the SS gave orders, and is struck for continuing to speak. Wiesel fails this test, and