In the beginning of the memoir, Elie was extremely religious. Few days would pass without Elie visiting the synagogue. Elie’s love for God was unconditional. Elie also prayed because he strongly believed it was the right thing to do and it had to be done. When asked why does he pray, …show more content…
His father was a busy community leader and he did not have much time for his family. In the beginning of the memoir, Elie noted his father was more concerned with others than with his family. As the atrocities of the camps escalated, it was a major goal of Elie’s to stay with his father. In the camps, their relationship changed drastically to one of protection. Elie’s outlook on family was very different inside the camps. His father went from barely caring for him to being a protective father and depending on each other for survival. After seeing the rest of his family disappear, he knew his father was his last relative so he clung to him. However, as life in the camps continued, there were times Elie resented having to take care of his father and began to blame him for their troubles. An example of this was while his father was being beaten. Elie thought “... if I felt anger at that moment, it was not directed at the Kapo but at my father. Why couldn’t he have avoided Idek’s wrath? That was what life in a concentration camp had made of me …” (54). The camps were filling Elie with anger and blame; he was upset because his father was getting hurt and his innocence was stripped from him. This is what the camps were trying to accomplish - break people down so they could not rebel successfully and in this case they succeeded. Another example of a time when Elie disliked having to take care of his father was