Father And Son In Elie Wiesel's Night

January thirtieth, nineteen-thirtythree to May eighth nineteen forty-five. In these six years, five to six million Jewish people were killed in the Holocaust by the Nazis. The man behind the largest genocide is Adolf Hitler, who had committed suicide on April thirtieth nineteen forty-five in Berlin. Elie Wiesel was from Sighet and was tossed around Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, Gleiwitz, and Buchenwald. The novel Night, tells the story of the harsh, painfully excruciating conditions a growing boy faced. Nightmares were turned into reality, and the hardest part was that they had to be faced. In the heart wrenching novel Night, by Elie Wiesel, the relationship of father and son is changed when love and dismay are displayed with small, but impactful

Winter came around and Elie’s foot began to swell, resulting in him needing surgery. In the infirmary the food was a bit better and he did little things for his father, for example,“From time to time, I was able to send a piece of bread to my father”(pg. 78). The supply of food was very limited, more like a crumb of bread and a small serving of vile soup. Food was an essential piece of life and one of the few reasons people would push through horrid days. Food for the workers was like a lollipop is to a five year old, they would basically do anything for it. Elie displays the affection and importance of his father when giving up food when he is in the infirmary. This action also represents Elie selflessness, many people would have eaten the food without a second thought, but Elie’s morals stay intact and his mind is always on his father's well being. Elie had a gold crown, and who he sought to be his friend, Franek turned out to be a little nightmare. Elie refused to give him in the crown, but Franke who was furious about the knees, started to slap around his father. Elie couldn't stand to watch so he took action by, “I decided to give my father lessons in marching in step, in keeping time”( pg 55). These men will come from days of harsh work and desire rest and food more than anything. Elie takes his spare time to teach his father to march rather than

Elie and his father had just arrived to Buchenwald and endless thoughts were running through Elie’s aged mind, such as, “The old familiar fear: not to lose him” (pg 104). Elie has relied on his father from the very first time they separated from their female family members. As time goes on one can see the emotional attachment Elie has to his father and the everlasting safeness Elie feels when being around him. Elie feels that he must fight to stay alive for his father, but the new tone in the quote above, reveals a more sarcastic side of him. Rather than having a die heart attitude, he expresses himself as being almost burdened with his father’s existence. When he says “old familiar fear” it sounds as if he has gotten used to the thought of not losing him. It’s like a vague thought in the back of his head, always telling him that his father is the reason he fights for life day to day. Elie’s father becomes very ill and Elie tries, with all his strength to take care of him. Elie's father dies and he feels a wave of sadness, but can't express it, for example,“I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep.” When Elie explains that he couldn't cry, most people would think that he is heartless and that his father may have meant nothing to him. Maybe he didn't know how to handle the death of his father, so pushing back and not showing any emotion may have helped