“I realized that he did not want to see what they were going to do to me. He did not want to see the burning of his only son”(42). When Eliezer arrives at Auschwitz, the separation of his family puts an emotional toll on his father since he realizes that only him and Eliezer are still alive. This will be a catalyst to their relationship becoming stronger as they endure more together. Elie Wiesel, the author of the novel Night writes his own personal accounts of experiencing the Holocaust through the character Eliezer. Eliezer and his father rely on one another to survive through the Holocaust. Together they encounter the cruelty of the Nazis, the lack of compassion from the prisoners, as well as the difficulty of simply surviving. They remain strong together unlike other father-son relationships seen in the novel. A majority of the prisoners gravitate towards self preservation while Eliezer chooses to remain with his father. Eliezer does exhibit ambivalence in continuing to help his father because the conditions of the Holocaust continually make it harder to make others a priority than oneself. Eliezer’s relationship with his father contrast with other father-son relationships because they …show more content…
Wiesel’s purpose including these relationships in Night explain how society should act during adversity. He wants to express that humanity needs to work together and support one another to survive. Humans generally choose to be independent when basic necessities are threatened. Wiesel wants to make a point that their personal connections are as important to survival because it keeps their humanity intact. Without humanity, Humans are no better than the atrocities they faced during the