Father and Son Relationships in Night The infinite love between parent and child may be one of the strongest bonds in the world. Elie Wiesel shows just how valuable a father-son relationship can be through his memoir, Night, as he and his father take on some of the most ruthless challenges that few people can even fathom. Throughout the story of their survival during World War II, Wiesel depicts the many times he came close to reaching his absolute breaking point, but remained resilient due to the love for his father. Even though many times it seemed as though survival could have been easier without Wiesel’s father, their inseparable connection is the key reason Weisel still lives today.
Throughout Wiesel’s childhood, his father never played a large role in his life and was described as a “rather unsentimental man” (Wiesel 2). The relationship between Elie Wiesel and his father, before they know the horror that awaits them, is very dull and in no way meaningful. Wiesel’s father does not only have a distant relationship with Weisel, but also with the rest of the family, which Wiesel realizes when he notes, “He [Wiesel’s father] was more concerned with others than with his own family”(2). In a way, Wiesel’s father even acts somewhat selfish when he does not allow young Wiesel to study the cabbala, which
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As reality strikes for Wiesel’s father, he realises his bottled up emotions and true devotion towards his family. Weisel sees a whole new side of his father that he’s never seen before when he comes face to face with fear. Wiesel proves just how much his father changes when he emphasizes, “My father wept, it was the first time I had ever seen him weep”(16). This very moment is truly the starting point for Wiesel and his father’s first loving and symbiotic