All people change throughout the course of their lives because of their experiences. Some people’s experiences are so life-changing that they are drastically altered as a result. A memoir of one boy’s experiences of the period of mass killing and persecution of the Jews by the Nazis, Night by Elie Wiesel brings the reader into his life before and during his imprisonment at a concentration camp. The crime of the Holocaust forever changed the lives and perspectives of the people and victims who lived it. In Night, Eliezer’s perspective of his faith and belief in God, his family, and humanity is vastly altered. Throughout the novel, Elie accounts the state of his faith and perspective of God. At the start of the book, Elie is “deeply observant”
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Elie’s relationship with his father is introduced as being distant, not close, though he holds his father in respect. His father “was a cultured man, rather unsentimental. He rarely displayed his feelings, not even within his family, and was involved with the welfare of others then with that of his own kin.” (4). It appears that Elie and his father did not have an intimate relationship, yet when they enter Birkenau and are separated from his mother and sisters he and his father grasp hands knowing that “it was imperative to stay together” (30). Wiesel writes, “My hand tightened its grip around my father. All I could think of was not to lose him. Not to remain alone.” (30).The reader can insinuate that though they were not close, they are still important to one another. He realizes that he is beginning to change when the Gypsy inmate in charge slaps his father harshly and Elie “had not even blinked” (39). He acknowledges that the day before he “would have dug [his] nails into this criminal’s face” (39), and begins to feel remorse. Already he is beginning to become insensitive because of the crime of the camp. Despite this, Elie knows that the duty of a son is to take care of his father and he strives to do this, encouraging and caring for his father. But as the novel progresses, Elie fears that he will ultimately betray his father in order that he might survive, as he saw another man do. Despite praying that God give him “the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done” (91) he abandons his father in an alert. He begins to turn selfish, influenced by the survival mindset of other inmates. He confesses that he would rather “use all [his] strength to fight for [his] own survival, to take care only of [himself]” (106). When he discovers that his father did not receive any soup, he shares his, although
Elie’s relationship with his father is introduced as being distant, not close, though he holds his father in respect. His father “was a cultured man, rather unsentimental. He rarely displayed his feelings, not even within his family, and was involved with the welfare of others then with that of his own kin.” (4). It appears that Elie and his father did not have an intimate relationship, yet when they enter Birkenau and are separated from his mother and sisters he and his father grasp hands knowing that “it was imperative to stay together” (30). Wiesel writes, “My hand tightened its grip around my father. All I could think of was not to lose him. Not to remain alone.” (30).The reader can insinuate that though they were not close, they are still important to one another. He realizes that he is beginning to change when the Gypsy inmate in charge slaps his father harshly and Elie “had not even blinked” (39). He acknowledges that the day before he “would have dug [his] nails into this criminal’s face” (39), and begins to feel remorse. Already he is beginning to become insensitive because of the crime of the camp. Despite this, Elie knows that the duty of a son is to take care of his father and he strives to do this, encouraging and caring for his father. But as the novel progresses, Elie fears that he will ultimately betray his father in order that he might survive, as he saw another man do. Despite praying that God give him “the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done” (91) he abandons his father in an alert. He begins to turn selfish, influenced by the survival mindset of other inmates. He confesses that he would rather “use all [his] strength to fight for [his] own survival, to take care only of [himself]” (106). When he discovers that his father did not receive any soup, he shares his, although