Father's Presence In The Book Thief By Elie

Elie and his father have to rely on each other to get through this hell that they have been living in. They are staying alive for each other and not for themselves. In the book Elie states that his “father’s presence was the only thing that stopped [him]” for giving up and letting his body be trampled on or falling behind for the SS to shoot him. Elie was thinking about “what would [his] father do without” him; Elie was his “soul support.” Elie and his father had been with each other through it all, which allowed them to survive the run. While they were running through the blizzard Elie states that his “father’s presence was the only thing that stopped [him]” from letting himself fall to the back to die. Once they had gotten to the village Elie had wanted to finally rest, but his father wouldn’t let him freeze to death. They would watch over each other to make sure that they would not go to sleep forever. They took turns so each one of them could rest. They did this to make sure that they would have enough energy to make it through whatever was put upon them next, but to also make sure they didn’t die from the cold. Elie would also look after his father and prevented his father from being thrown off the train by quickly jumping on his father and slapped him to wake him up. Throughout their journey, they watched after each other at all times to

One boy had let his father start to drift to the back and instead of helping him push on the boy just kept going and didn’t stop to wait for him. When the group had gotten to the camp the boys father, Rabbi Eliahu, had started to look for him. When he went into the shed he had asked if anyone had seen his boy. The father and his son had been together for three years at the concentration camp. The boy had given up on his father and had lost the drive in himself. The boy had been selfish and instead of helping his father he helped only