Father-Son Bonds in Wiesel’s Night

In his memoire, Night, one of E craftzer Wiesels main themes is how the relationship between lets and paroles is drastically changed everyplace the course of impri parolement and in different ways. At the beginning of the book, untried prisoners hold on to the however thing they have their family.For some pot, the all thing that gives them the will to keep living is the knowledge that their family is still alive, or the need to help their families. The most prominent family relationship in the camps (mostly because the women were kill off immediately) is that between contract and son.As the book progresses and the suffering intensifies, however, many changes are bring downn in this father-son tie. One of these changes, brought on by the inner struggle between self-preservation and love, is shown when the son begins to view his own father as a burden.After the mad work on to Gleiwitz, in which prisoners who could not keep up were shot immediately, Rabbi Eliahu goes around peeping of the resting prisoners the whereab come forwards of his son. Eliezer tells him that he doesnt know where his son is, but later remembers that his son had been beside him during the run.He realizes that the son had known that his father was losing ground, but did nothing ab push through it because he knew his fathers survival would diminish the chances for his own. After this realization Elie prays, Oh God, get over of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahus son has make (Page 91).Later on, however, while his father is dying, Elie finds himself grudgingly taking care of him, and is ashamed that he has failed what he had previously prayed to do. One day, Elies father begins calling out to him for water, and an officer starts beating him to keep him tranquil.He keeps calling out to Elie, not sense of smell the blows or hearing the shouts Elie, however, remains still, fearing that the next blow will be for him if he interferes. The next morning, he finds his father replaced with an opposite sick person, and he screwing not find it within his weak conscience to redden cry over the death of his own father.An other fifty-fifty more atrocious instance of a son and his fathers bond being broken is seen on the contract to Buchenwald. When a German farmer sees the train full of prisoners going by, he throws scraping into the transport car, and a armed combat instantly breaks out among them.Elie refuses to take part in the fight, trying to maintain whatever dignity he has left and to avoid getting hurt. notice the fight take place, he sees an old man crawling out of the mob, holding something to his chest. He realizes that the man is hiding bread underneath his shirt, and the man quickly eats the bread.No sooner does he smile than someone is on top of him, dealing punches to him. The old man cries out, Meir, my small-scale Meir Dont you recognize meyoure killing your fatherI have breadfor you toofor you too (Page 101).T he person beating him is his very own son. The father is soon dead, and the son begins devouring the small crust of bread, only to be beaten by two men watching. The two bodies, father and son, lie beside Elie throughout the train ride.From the behavior of sons to their fathers shown throughout the book, one can cease that the effect of dehumanizing circumstances on even the closest of human relationships can be so radical that one may begin to see a loved one as a burden, competition, or even a direct threat to their own safety.In some cases in the closeness camps, loved ones sincerely were threats, but normally in extreme conditions, the bond between family members is strong enough for them to look past this and use individually other as support. In such conditions as prisoners are subjected to by the Germans, where people are treated worse than animals, however, friends and family act cruelly toward for each one other, and it is every man for himself.One might act viciously to cope with the ferociousness he is being oblige into, to separate himself from a nuisance so as not to be blamed, or to make things a little more advantageous for himself, whether it be a lesser burden or a few bread crumbs.The horrible things that go on during the final solution force Elie into mixed feelings about his father. At times his father is his lifeline, the only thing keeping him alive, and at others, he is only a liability. His father is pulling him down, and in a place like the camps, Elie and many other sons are required to concern themselves only with their own survival.The ultimate suit of this in Eliezer is his final night with his father. He recounts the scene, saying, I didnt move. I was afraid, my body was afraid of another blow, this time to my head (Page 111). Elie is haunted by his own inaction for the rest of his life.As seen through many of Eliezers thoughts and the actions of other people toward their own fathers, the experiences in the concentration camps numbed all human feelings. umpteen died and no one cried for them they hadnt any tears left, and fathers and sons were no exclusion to this.Personal Commentary I find it unfathomable that the chilling horrors that happened during the Holocaust were so much as conceived as an idea, let alone followed through with. It really makes me think how an entire country, known for its brilliant people and its culture, could be silent while a heinous crime against an entire race of people was being committed within its borders. Millions of people were slaughtered, treated worse than animals, and forced to act lower than animals.Reading about the friends and family of people getting killed, the smell of intense flesh penetrating prisoners noses, the complete loss of faith from some people, and the general hate of everyone for everyone else makes me glad that I live in the place that I do today.But I still know that the same problem that was there during the Holocaust is still here toda y, and perhaps forever. Racism and other forms of hatred will never leave our society, but it is the general passivity for it that allows evil things to happen, and the Holocaust is the prime example for this.