Elie And His Father's Relationship Analysis

The one person in Elie’s life that means everything to him is his father. During his time in the concentration camps, Elie’s bond with his father

Eventually they stayed alive because they were each other motivation to live. After discovering that the front line was closing on the camp, everyone is worried that they will be killed. When confronted by the news, Elie thought, “As for me, I was thinking not about death but about not wanting to be separated from my father. We had suffered so much, endured so much together”(Wiesel 82). Even though Elie and his father were never that close, since the German occupation, they have started to support each other. Yet when confronted by his own mortality, he still sticks by his father's side. Not only is his father helping him, he is Elie’s motivation to continue fighting the urge to give up. If it hadn't been for his father, Elie would not have made it as far as he

When Elie and his father first entered the camps, his father was struck and Elie did nothing to help his father: "What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked. Only yesterday, I would have dug my nails in this criminal's flesh" (39). This shows that, although Elie did not share a close relationship with his father, he still feels that he should stand up for his fahter for the fact that they are father and son. Elie is very violent in that he would have "dug his nails in the criminals' flesh." Evidently, Elie is furious towards the offender. Unfortunately, Elie does not do anything when his father is struck because he does not want to draw attention to himself. Nevertheless, the bond between Elie and his father does strengthen: "And what if he were dead, as well? He was not moving. Suddenly the evidence overwhelmed me: there is no longer any reason to live, any reason to fight" (98-99). Elie reveals that he truly depends on his father for survival. Because he believes his father is no longer alive, he loses all hope for surviavl. Although Elie expresses anger towards his father from time to time because he is being a burden, he still feels that his survival is meaningless without his father. The strong bond that the two developed once they entered the concentration camps proves that nothing can come between them so easily.

Nearing the end of their arduous journey, the mutual dependence was slowly dwindling as Elie began to have to take care of his father. One example of this is when his father was sick and in the camp infirmary and had not been fed so Elie “gave him what was left of [his] soup. But [his] heart was heavy. [He] was aware that [he] was doing it grudgingly,’ (107). Being that he did this grudgingly, the reader is shown that, to Elie, taking care of his father had become more of an unwanted task rather than a kind action coming from his heart. Elie begins to see his own father as a thorn in his side much rather than his source support. His father is no longer there as a person who will provide motivation to survive but now instead a burden. In another instance, still in the infirmary, when his father pleaded for water and the officer came to silence him, Elie states, “ I didn’t move.

All three fathers came to this terrible place with their sons. Only one father survived after their sons left them. Elie didn’t want to leave his father, he was the last thing that kept his father alive. Elie would do anything to be with his father. The other sons changed, they knew that their fathers were falling behind. Elie didn’t let his father fall behind he pushed him to stay alive.

Elie’s relationship with his father consists of an estranged bond, with not a lot of emotional connection. The relationship his dad creates with the community means more to him than his relationship with his son; the people of Sighet thought of him as a leader of their town, someone to confide in. To the townspeople of Sighet, he plays the role of a role model, people involving him even in their personal matters. Elie notices how guarded his father acts around his family, compared to the way he acts in his community. When Elie wishes to

One internal conflict Elie experienced was the loss of all of his family. While he was in the concentration camps, he and his father were the only ones in his family that were left. “My hand tightened its grip on my father. All I could think of was not to lose him. Not to remain alone,” which was stated on page 30, explains how he and his father were all that were left and his father would have to be there for Elie during that time. They fought hard together through the cold nights

Since Elie loves his father so much, it helps signify the meaning of this death. “I held onto my father’s hand—the old, familiar fear: not to lose him” (99). Since Elie had such a deep love and a need to stay with his father, he was rather startled and confused when he saw that son, murder his own father. Elie and his father’s love held the test of the concentration camps for much longer than this son and his father.

The Holocaust was a very terrible time in history over six million Jews perished in concentration camps. Even though in every tragedy there are survivors. Elie Wiesel was a little boy when all of this happened. He experienced all of the terrible things that happened during this time frame. While suffering in the terrible condition of the camp Elie and his father’s relationship goes through a drastic change.

In the beginning of the book, before experiencing life threatening difficulties, Elie was much more determined to stay with his family (in order to survive). Eliezer thought that his father was what kept him going and gave him strength, he was certain that the right thing to do was to stay with his dad. In chapter 3 Wiesel states, “My hand tightened its grip on my father. All I could think of was not to lose him. Not to remain alone” (30). In these sentences, Elie explains that he and his father needed to stay together. This quote also shows what Elie’s emotions were; he was scared to suffer through the concentration camp alone. Elie also shows his need for family when he says, “Franek, the foreman, assigned me to a corner... ‘Please, sir ... I’d like to be near

Then, throughout the middle of the novel, the strength of family bonds of the Jews is tested. After the run, a Rabbi asks Elie if he had seen his son, Elie tells him that he had not. Then Elie realizes that he had seen his son on the run, but he does not tell the Rabbi because his son left him behind on purpose. The text states, “He had felt his father growing weaker… by this separation to free himself of a burden that could diminish his own chance for survival” (Wiesel 91). This is where the reader begins to see the toll that the concentration camps are having on the families. Elie includes this to show, that now, family members see each other as burdens rather than a blessing. Later in the novel, family members go as far as taking a life. One old man

But further on in the novel, they drift further and further apart. At some point in the novel, Elie starts to feel that his father is a bit of a burden. Elie and his father experience a reversal in roles, where Elie takes on the fatherly role and his father takes on the child role. After their run to Gleiwitz, Elie noticed how his father had changed from the time they arrived at the camps, “He had become childlike, weak, frightened, vulnerable” page 105. When they are finally at Buchenwald, Elie and his father spend an entire night apart. When Elie wakes the next morning, he frantically goes looking for him, as a father would look for his lost son. When he locates his father, he notices that his father was just sitting their like a lost child, waiting to be found. Elie says, “Father! I’ve been looking for so long….where were you? Did you sleep? How are you feeling?” pg.106.

Elie- an eager learner; seeks out the wisdom of Moishe the Beadle; very spiritual; oblivious to the cruelty going on in concentration camps; is quickly faced with the reality of the German Army; does anything to stay with his father; psychologically strong and quick thinker; he loses his faith in God; focused on surviving; tries his best to save his father. When he and his father arrive at the first concentration camp, Elie is willing to do anything to stay with his father: “I first wanted to see where they would send my father. Were he to have gone to the right, I would have run after him” (32). Luckily, his father moves to the left.

Mr.Wiesel felt the need to care of his son and knew they had to stick together to stay alive and survive but near the end Mr.Wiesel became very ill and had dysentery, leading from the time he became ill, the roles got reversed and Elie felt the need to take care of his father. So Elie did whatever he could to keep his father alive by giving him some of his rations, helped him up when his father was too weak to stand up by himself, and more. Then Mr.Wiesel became even more weak and his time was up soon, Elie did his best to try and help his father survive but had been taken from the barracks due to the people having to remove all of the dead bodies from the barracks, so when Elie woke up from his discomforting slumber, his father was gone.

Everything during the Holocaust affects him, even till this day. During and after the Holocaust, many relationships seemed to change. Elie never went back to his religious ways after everything slowly went back to normal. Elie and his father were not the closest, but his father was the only reason Elie still had motivation to keep going. The holocaust is something Elie will never forget.