Why Do We Need His Family In Night By Elie Wiesel

People say family is everything, but did Elie need his father to survive? In Night, Elie and his family were one of the many families forced to live in multiple ghettos and make the long journey to Auschwitz. Once Elie and his father made it through selection they found out that Elie’s mother and sister didn’t, forcing their last encounter to be when they were ripped apart from each other. Elie and his father ate the small portions of bread and soup they were given while forced to work. Everyday was the same. They line up, eat, then go to work. Occasionally, they would be put through selection but other than that their lives were perpetual. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, he shows how him and his father’s relationship impacted his survival during the Holocaust for the good.

He first notices the sacrifices his father is willing to make for him just after the first selection ended. “‘Look, take this knife,’ he said to me. ‘I don’t need it any longer. It might be useful to you. And take this spoon as well. Don’t sell them. Quickly! Go on. Take what I’m giving you!” (71). Elie refuses to accept his father’s gift in the beginning, but soon takes it from his father after his father pleads him to. If Elie and his father’s relationship wasn’t as strong as it was then his father might have never given him the knife and spoon. After this scene in the book, Elie starts to realize what his father is willing to do for him in order to increase his chances of