Night has many contrasts between good and evil characters that causes Eliezer to have trouble making the right decisions. In the concentration camp, one of the Blockälteste tries to persuade Eliezer into giving up on the only thing he has left—family. “Let me give you good advice: stop giving your ration of bread and soup to your old father. You cannot help him anymore. And you are hurting yourself. In fact, you should be getting his rations …” (Wiesel 178). Even through all this pressure, Eliezer does the right thing and stays true to his father. This proves that good will always overpower…
Elie clings to his father, and his father to him. Elie did not believe his surroundings, he could not bare to consider that idea that the Nazi’s were really slaughtering the Jews, until he saw live babies being thrown into fiery graves. That is when Elie realized that not everything is good, and that there are bad things in the world. During this time Elie’s father cried- this was the first time Elie had ever seen his father cry. Elie’s father begins to soften and break under the pressures of camps. Elie and his father are forced to work and get little to eat, and grow weaker and weaker by the days, however they still keep going. Elie saw and experienced many things each time he lost more and more faith until one day he saw a young boy on hung, and he said that God died with that young boy on the gallows that day. Elie was becoming colder as he experienced the harsh reality of concentration camps, and Elie’s father was becoming weaker and more dependent on Elie as he experience…
Although most assume Death looks like the Grim Reaper or a scary skeleton thing, in The Book Thief, Death is not. In fact, he even tells us what he looks like when he says, “I do not carry a sickle or a scythe. I only wear a hooded black robe when it’s cold. And I don’t have those skull-like facial features you seem to enjoy pinning on me from a distance… Find yourself a mirror while I continue” (Zusak 307). Essentially Death is saying that because all humans die, we all resemble death. Humans can and will die, and thus he is one of the things that is constant between all humans. Due to this reason I drew a man looking into a mirror to show Death. I just…
Another instance of imagery that might relate to the theme is when Eliezer had chosen to go with his father when all the camps were separating families of women, children, and men, and Eliezer states his thoughts on the occurrence: “I didn’t know that this was the moment in time and place where I was leaving my mother and Tzipora forever. I kept walking, my father holding my hand.” (Wiesel, 25). It was at this moment where his father, and sometimes Eliezer, show an act of kindness towards each other, even at their most depressing of times, where they felt trapped, and alone.…
War is a foul and nauseating occurrence throughout history. Nevertheless, it is something that has happened more than once. There are numerous amount of people who have experienced the events of a war. Each person can have a different perspective and experiences. However, those people can be categorized as victims, perpetrators, or bystanders.…
During the middle of the book, the prisoners start to lose hope, and they begin to fall, one by one. Elie's father loses his strength quickly, "his eyes [grew] dim" (46) almost immediately after arriving. The horrors which he had seen were easily enough to crush the spirit of a former community leader. His disbelief of the horrors he saw questioned the very basis of his soul, and he began to despair. His father's eyes soon become,…
As a result, he is now a despondent young man who finds no value in prayer and no longer believes that living a good life means life will be good. After the daily work and roll call in front of everyone, as a punishment, anyone who disobeys the Nazis will be killed. And so, Eliezer witnesses the hanging of Pipel, a small child. “And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes.”(65) How could God allow this cruelty? “And from within me, I heard a voice answer: ‘Where He is? This is where-hanging here from this gallows…’” (65) The idea of god allowing the hanging of a child for no reason reduces Eliezer’s belief in God’s protection and safety. As well as Eliezer’s overall sense of justice, stability, and fairness are much shaken. The burning of the innocent children in the beginning as he went left as a decision for his fate. “Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.”(34) Why would Eliezer believe in a God that allows innocent children to be burned? At the end of the summer and Jewish year, “Why, but why would I bless him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in his mass graves? Because He kept six crematories working day and night…” (67) How could god allow such things as those of burning innocent children? How could Eliezer have any faith in god if this is happening to those people who pray to him? Also the event in which a son kills his father because of starvation startled Eliezer and shakes his ideals of family, as well. As people throw bread at the Jews, in wagons, “Meir, my little Meir! Don’t you recognize me? … You’re killing your father… I have bread for you too…for you too…” (101) How could God allow all of this starvation? Enough torture and starvation to cause a son to kill…
After having witnessed the crimes that took place in Auschwitz, such as babies being thrown in the crematoria, Eliezer’s faith began to break, he seems to have lost all hope in god and life. “The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank him for?” Eliezer seems to have developed hate towards God, he seems confused and hurt by the fact that God allowed the ones who have worshiped him to be burned on his…
During the years prior to Elie's Wiesel's experience in the Holocaust, Elie and his father shared a distant relationship that lacked a tremendous amount of support and communications but, eventually, their bond strengthens as they rely on each other for survival and comfort.…
Eliezer had his faith vanished in others due to the cruelty of his adversaries. For example, one of the moments he…
On many occasions in Night, the Jews' individual human survival instincts dominate their compassion for others and love for family members. After many months of exhausting work and living in terrible conditions, Elie's father's health decreases rapidly, and Elie spends the night in Buchenwald on the bunk above him. When he wakes up, his father had been taken away and replaced by another sick prisoner. Elie's reaction is surprisingly insensitive. "I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!" (112). Within him, Elie's desire to survive and endure this test of strength supersedes his devotion to his father. Human survival instinct takes over and he gives in to his concerns for himself. With this changed perspective focused on self-preservation, he no longer wants to provide adequate care for his father, and it matters much less to Elie if his father survives. He is seen as a burden instead of an important figure in Elie's life, and so Elie is relieved when he finds his father has been taken away for a certain death. The challenges of life in Buchenwald force the Jews to transform their way of thinking and behaving to give themselves the best chance of…
Elie is filled with guilt as he thinks to pursue unthinkable things while his father’s strength depletes reversing the roles, where the father starts to depend on child. Elie feels condemned by his father and wishes multiple times to be relieved of his father to use his energy on himself. Elie feels guilty when thinking, “If only I were relieved of this responsibility, I could use all my strength to fight for my own survival, to take care only of myself,” (pg. 106, Wiesel). From the prolonged time spent at the camp, the concept of ‘every man for himself’ has imbedded itself into Elie’s head. He wants to abandon his father for a better chance of survival. The camp’s ideals have gotten into his head, and even though his father is feeble from illness and malnutrition he remains emotionally insensitive towards his father. It’s obvious, because of the ideals lingering in his mind Elie has become the type of person he hates, the one who would abandon their kin when push comes to…
“Courage is simply the willingness to be afraid and act anyway, “ says Dr. Robert Anthony. What is the definition of courage? It doesn’t exactly mean to be fearless about something, but to not let fear stop you from doing it. Courage can have a positive effect because it helps people to achieve their dreams and creates the opportunity for amazing things to happen. Everyone has different opinions, though, and some people think of courage in a negative way. For example, some people who have gained the courage to do very dangerous things have gotten themselves killed, or seriously injured. However, something positive came out from that result, and things happen for a reason. The fact that those people were brave enough to even attempt something…
Furthermore, Elie’s beliefs about his family are also changed, specifically his father. The quote, “My hand tightened its grip on my father. All I could think of was not to lose him. Not to remain alone” (Weisel 30) shows that Elie truly loved his father and wanted to protect him from any harm in the beginning. Elie shows his love for his father by giving him extra rations of food and constantly worrying and checking on him. As their time goes by in concentration camps, Elie’s father becomes fatally ill with…
This passage reminds me of the scene where Napoleon steals the milk and apples from the animals without asking in Animal Farm. Similarly, in The Book Thief, Rudy and Liesel are also stealing vegetables from many farms. However, the reason that Napoleon steals the milk and apples is because of his greed, while Rudy and Liesel are stealing to "extend their thieving repertoire" (Zusak 161). Also, from my interpretation of this passage, I feel that the law enforcements are not strong enough to stop thievery at that time in Germany because, if the law enforcements were powerful, then Rudy and Liesel wouldn't take the risk to extend their thieving…