Prema Weichun
Mrs Jass
CHELA-Per. 4 & 5
18 April 2023
How Prisoners of the Holocaust Found the Will to Live
“Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust”(Wiesel 34). Victims living in the nightmare of the Holocaust watched their families get torn away. They watched their faith crumble to the ground as more and more awful events occurred during the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel was one of these victims who had to go through many traumatic incidents that forever changed his life. He had to take care of his father and try to help him survive, which gave him more of a reason to continue pushing through. Prisoners in concentration camps found the will to continue going through horrific events by holding
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At the beginning of the book Night, Elie cared so much for his dad that feeding him his rations made him feel stronger and happier. An example of Elie looking out for his father is, “Come, Father. It’s better there. You’ll be able to lie down. We’ll take turns. I’ll watch over you and you’ll watch over me. We don’t let each other fall asleep. We’ll look after each other”(Wiesel 89.) However, as time progresses, Elie’s protectiveness over his dad fades and he starts caring about himself more. He realizes that in order to come out of this alive, one can’t be sensitive and they need to care for themselves. Even though he eventually stopped caring for him as much, his dad is what kept him going, so keeping his dad alive is what was keeping him alive. In other words, Elie cared for his father as much as he cared for himself, so that means if he dies, his dad dies. When Elie’s father finally passes, he’s sad that he can’t cry because there’s no tears left to cry. “I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep”(Wiesel 112). Despite not crying when his dad died and even feeling a little relieved, knowing that there was still a part of his old life that wasn’t torn away from him was a big motivation to hold