Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night By Elie Wiesel

The poem, “Do not Go Gentle into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas parallels Elie Wiesel’s Night by portraying a damaged father and son relationship and the message that life is short and precious. Both works send this message through emotion-evoking language, and metaphors, highlighting the importance of father-son relationships. Throughout Night, there is a moribund tone that lurks in the language. There is a presiding internal battle against death, trying not to let one’s hope slip away into the greedy grasp of death, and not letting it beguile the victim into thinking it’s the easy way out of pain. Elie also shows the external struggle by saying, “Death, which was settling in all around me, silently, gently. It would seize upon a sleeping

This constant physical battle with death is also displayed in the poem when Thomas repeats phrases such as, “Do not go gentle into that good night” and “rage, rage against the dying of the light” (Thomas), alluding that the son is pleading for his father not to succumb to death and instead, fight for that last glimmer of hope. Both authors' linguistic choices display the prevailing theme that one must maintain faith, even in the harshest of times, and remind the reader of how precious life is. In Night, death feels inevitable. This constant feeling of death causes Elie’s father’s death to be understated, with Elie merely waking up to his father being gone. His father's death seems so insignificant because it simply ends a life that was already full of suffering

In Night, Elie experiences immense pressure, feeling that he is responsible for his father’s life along with his own. Elie describes this feeling by questioning, “What would he do without me? I was his sole support” (Wiesel, 87). As the story progresses, this pressure augments, leaving Elie in a worse position than his father. In modern-day, it is the norm for a father to look after and protect his sons, but as shown in Night, that is not necessarily true. This dynamic is also displayed in Thomas’s poem when the son asks to “bless, me now with your fierce tears” (Thomas). When he requests this from his father, it can be interpreted as if he wants to take all his father's pain and inflict it on himself, in an attempt to save him. This interpretation provides a look into the mind of the son. When he is willing to sacrifice his happiness and comfort for the life of his father, that shows great love and perseverance in the bond. As Night progresses, we can see many instances where other sons turn on fathers, whether for a mere crust of bread or to keep themselves alive longer. These occurrences highlight the relationship between Elie and his father, as they contrast against these selfish acts. Even when people advised Elie to let go of his father, he kept persistent and remained loyal to his