Keshaunna's+Night+Essay

Keshaunna Moon World Literature November 2011 SURVIVING WITH LOVE  “They must have taken him away before day break and taken him to the crematorium. Perhaps he was still breathing…” (112). Initially, this sounds strange to possibly be alive while being burned but this was reality to many in the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel wrote a book titled //__Night__//__,__ telling his experiences in concentration camps during the Holocaust for two years. Elie and his father had been separated from the rest of their family and only had each other left to depend on for survival. Before Elie’s father was killed, Elie stood by his side through all circumstances. Even when Elie’s dad was almost dying, he didn’t give up hope on him. Lastly, Elie tended to his father’s needs. Elie did not abandon his sick father. Through whatever circumstance, Elie stood by his father. In the beginning of //__Night__//__,__ Elie and his father were very distant. Elie’s dad was content with the lives of others rather than his own family. As time progressed, Elie’s dad became older and weaker and unable to work. Elie realized his dad was all he had left. He tried to keep his father well enough to live. “For a ration of bread I was able to exchange cots to be next to my father”(108). Basically, Elie was saying he gave up his food to be with his father. Elie wanted to be closer to his father to take better care of him. Elie didn’t have to give up his only ration for that period in time to be with his dying dad. Elie stood by his father when he was in need not abandoning him when he was enabled to do so. As well as, Elie showed he had not given up hope in his father because in the novel Elie searched for a doctor that could have possibly treated his father’s terrible dysentery. Elie’s attempt was in vain when every doctor told him there was no chance to save his father. The blockalteste advised Elie to stop caring for his old dad and save himself. Elie was ashamed of the thought and stil believed something else could have been done. “ Too late to save your old father… You could have two rations of bread, two rations of soup…it was only a fraction of a second, it left me feeling guilty” (111). In other words, Elie was given good advice to survive, but he never followed through. Elie could have easily done something like the son of Meir Katz, another character, whom was killed by his son for bread. Elie still thought he could save his father and couldn’t stand the thought of giving up on his father. Elie didn’t abandon his dad by letting him die without trying even when his father and everyone else had. In addition, Elie tended to his father. Right after the conversation with the blockalteste, Elie went to get food for his father. The blockalteste made Elie realize that he couldn’t take from his dad to benefit himself. “I ran to get some soup and brought it to my father” (111). Elie’s point was to prove he couldn’t take from his sick father who needed the food way more than himself. Elie could have taken the advice and increased his chance for survival, but instead he nourished his father. Elie had not abandoned his father because he tended to his dad even when Elie had a better chance to live. In conclusion, Elie had been there for his father. He tended to his every need, stood by him through all circumstances, and never gave up hope. Elie made sure that he and his father were never separated during their time in the concentration camps. Elie always found ways to be by his father’s side. Elie looked after his father until he was gone. Based on Elie’s actions toward his father in the Holocaust, Elie did not abandon his father.