Themes Of The Shop On Main Street By Elie Wiesel

The Importance of Family
The Czech film The Shop on Main Street and Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night both focus on two men’s survival of the holocaust and the ways they handle it. However the two pieces of work also have many other similar themes that play key roles in Holocaust Literature, such as Religion, Community, and The Human Response to Stressful and traumatic situations. Another theme seen throughout both pieces of literature is the importance of Family bonds. They also demonstrate how difficult situations either make these bonds stronger or destroy them. The Shop on Main Street’s first hour gives a clear idea on how the main character, Tono’s family treats him, and through the rest of the film you can see how the disrespectful treatment

Throughout the memoir, Wiesel talks about how disgusted he is with how the conditions he and the rest of the prisoners are in have destroyed family bonds and have made everyone selfish and destroyed any compassion they’ve had for each other. He believes that the family bond should be strong and constant, like the bond he has with his father. He continuously explains how he felt like his father depended on him, and that it was his own responsibility to care for his father as much as he could by staying alive as long as possible. On page 86 while talking about how his father was the only reason he wouldn’t let himself die, he says, “ I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support” (86). This quote demonstrated just how much he felt that his father needed him. While trying to protect his father, Wiesel also talks about numerous situations he’s witnessed that showed family bonds being destroyed, however the most shocking experience occurred while on the train to Buchenwald, where a fight broke out over food that lead a son to beat his own father to death. The son sacrificed a bond he had with a family member to save himself, and this occurrence shocks and disgusts Elie, because he knows the importance of family bonds. In relation to Shop on Main Street, Marco sacrifices the bond he has with his brother and sister-in-law in order to become successful by being sure he is the only one getting all of his mother and father-in-law’s valuables after they pass. In addition, you see Tono sacrifice the bond he has with Mrs. Lautmann to save himself towards the end of the film when he tries to hide her from being put on one of the trucks evacuating the Jews, then changes his mind and tries to force her to leave after thinking about the consequences that will be given to him by his brother-in-law as well as the rest of the fascist government for hiding a Jewish