Throughout the past and now the present, we often refer to heroes as the ones that save the day, such as superman or batman, the people who stand up for what they believe in. When standing up for something or someone, there are always consequences, so within every decision, there are two choices: standing up or standing by. Our literature and societies issues often create great examples of what standing up and standing by construct opportunity wise, whether it is surviving the concentration camp Auschwitz, killing a friend for the good of Rome, or even taking a stand for equal pay as female athletes. Once a choice is made, no matter the decision, the outcomes will contain both positive and negative outcomes. The memoir “Night” by Eliezer Wiesel, …show more content…
In the memoir, “Night”, “The SS officers were doing the selection: weak to the left; those who walked well to the right. My father was sent to the left. I ran after him.” (Wiesel pg. 96) Before continuing their evacuation, there was another selection. When Elie’s father was put in the group to be left to die, Elie chases after him causing enough distraction to save his father. If Elie hadn’t stepped up and chased after his father, his father would have either been killed or left to die with no food or water. The way Elie steps up is by chasing his father, distracting the officers long enough to switch groups. Throughout the story, Elie repeats being in the concentration camp continuously ages his father, to a point where he tells Elie to let him die. Elie is the only person keeping him from doing so. Standing up in this situation saved his father’s life, and it made his life span a little longer. Even under the circumstances, the harsh dehumanization through the killing and mistreatment of the Jewish people, Elie stands up for his father under the risk of being killed. Overall, this proves that even after the dehumanization to the Jews in the concentration camp, Elie’s bond with his father is strong enough to overcome that and risk his life to protect his father’s life. In a similar act earlier in the story, a few young men wished to attack the armed guards before doing their separation and first selection. Because of the selection and the possibility of being killed, they had the idea to stand up for themselves, “There were, among us, a few tough young men. They actually had knives and were urging us to attack the armed guards.” Although they didn’t quite end up seizing the opportunity after being talked out of it by some older men, they most likely would have been killed. Since they were still