“I spent my days in total idleness. With only one desire: to eat. I no longer thought of my father, or my mother. From time to time, I would dream. But only about soup, an extra ration of soup.” (Wiesel 76). The author/character tells us something about what he felt at a concentration camp. He no longer thought of his relatives. Only to preserve himself. Elie Wiesel, author of the book “Night”, talks about his experience of the holocaust. He also talks about the concentration camps and how the Jews were treated by the Germans, or the Nazis. But two main topics I noticed throughout the book were family bonds and self-preservation, which was constantly shown throughout the entire book. Family bonds, for example, usually show characters
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This can be shown in the book “Night” when Eliezer is shown wanting to stay with his father during the selection. Self-preservation is basically a counter to family bonds. To self-preserve is only for yourself, you don’t want to care for others, so family bonds get in the way. This is shown in the book when Mier killed his own father for a piece of bread because he was so hungry. Mier later then died from eating the bread that the other men wanted. Two ideas that will be addressed in this body of this essay are family bonds and self-preservation, which were introduced in the above sentences. So here’s a question: “Will going through a difficult event like the holocaust cause someone to change their behavior and adapt to their new environment? And how will it change them?”. Going through a difficult event can cause someone to change their behavior and adapt to their new environment by gaining traits that will help them survive and getting rid of traits that will hinder …show more content…
Take an arctic fox for instance. It changes its color by shedding its furry white coat to brown to adapt and camouflage into the background when the snow melts. This is a form of adaptation. Same with Eliezer’s situation, he pushed family bonds out of the way to survive. “I stood petrified. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck in front of me, and I had not blinked. I had watched and kept silent. Only yesterday I would have dug my nails into this criminal’s flesh.” (Wiesel 39). Notice how Eliezer progressively changes from the beginning to the end. Here, he states he would have “dug his nails” into the person who struck his father, but he didn’t do anything to defend his father. ”I spent my days in a state of total idleness. And I had but one desire - to eat. I no longer thought of my father or my mother. From time to time I would dream about soup, of an extra ration of soup.” (Wiesel 76). Now, Eliezer doesn’t think of anyone else anymore. He wants to take care of himself. Only himself. Even his family doesn’t come close to being important. He only strives for an extra ration of soup, but it’s too bad that it’s only his dream. The protagonist changes and adapts to his new environment. He pushes away family bonds to keep himself
This can be shown in the book “Night” when Eliezer is shown wanting to stay with his father during the selection. Self-preservation is basically a counter to family bonds. To self-preserve is only for yourself, you don’t want to care for others, so family bonds get in the way. This is shown in the book when Mier killed his own father for a piece of bread because he was so hungry. Mier later then died from eating the bread that the other men wanted. Two ideas that will be addressed in this body of this essay are family bonds and self-preservation, which were introduced in the above sentences. So here’s a question: “Will going through a difficult event like the holocaust cause someone to change their behavior and adapt to their new environment? And how will it change them?”. Going through a difficult event can cause someone to change their behavior and adapt to their new environment by gaining traits that will help them survive and getting rid of traits that will hinder …show more content…
Take an arctic fox for instance. It changes its color by shedding its furry white coat to brown to adapt and camouflage into the background when the snow melts. This is a form of adaptation. Same with Eliezer’s situation, he pushed family bonds out of the way to survive. “I stood petrified. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck in front of me, and I had not blinked. I had watched and kept silent. Only yesterday I would have dug my nails into this criminal’s flesh.” (Wiesel 39). Notice how Eliezer progressively changes from the beginning to the end. Here, he states he would have “dug his nails” into the person who struck his father, but he didn’t do anything to defend his father. ”I spent my days in a state of total idleness. And I had but one desire - to eat. I no longer thought of my father or my mother. From time to time I would dream about soup, of an extra ration of soup.” (Wiesel 76). Now, Eliezer doesn’t think of anyone else anymore. He wants to take care of himself. Only himself. Even his family doesn’t come close to being important. He only strives for an extra ration of soup, but it’s too bad that it’s only his dream. The protagonist changes and adapts to his new environment. He pushes away family bonds to keep himself