Distractions are used to overcome traumatic events, to motivate survival. The story of Night by Elie Wiesel depicts his journey, beginning from a free life in Sighet, Transylvania during World War II. He, along with his family and the other Jews of Sighet are placed in ghettos then transported to concentration camps. Separated from his mother and sister, Elie strives to find a way to survive alongside his father. He recounts his experiences under Nazi German oppression from his imprisonment in Auschwitz to his liberation in Buchenwald. Elie survives the Holocaust through a battle of conscience – first believing in God, then resisting his faith in God, and ultimately replacing his faith with obligation to his father. Elie begins his journey through the Holocaust as a firm believer of Judaism and of his God, using his faith as a motivation to carry on during his ordeal. The last of the Jews …show more content…
Buna is evacuated, the SS officers forcing the inmates to run in the winter snow. “I had no right to let myself die.” Elie looks at his frail father, clinging on a thread to keep up with the rest, and sees himself as the one support his father has left to survive, which pushes his will to live further. They arrive at Buchenwald and Elie’s father is fatigued and feeble, begging to be left. “To have lived and endures so much; was I going to let my father die now?” He is fighting to keep his father alive, angered by the lack of desire to live. Elie’s father is suffering from dysentery, too weak to move from his cot. “For a ration of bread, I was able to exchange cots to be next to my father.” Elie has taken measures to comfort his ill-stricken father, even trading much needed food to be nearer to him. As Elie’s father begins to become more incapacitated, Elie takes the responsibility of keeping both their spirits up and keeping him