The Relationship between Eliezer and his Father - Essay Example

of the of the Eliezer’s Relationship with His Father Night by Elie Wiesel is a story of a boy Eliezer who is living through the horrors of Holocaust. In Night, Eliezer tells his own account of the atrocities committed during this time and how these experiences changed his belief in God and the relationship with his father. Throughout the story, the relationship changes and this change is affected by the events surrounding them. The novel Night by Elie Wiesel commences in Sighet, Transylvania where Eliezer’s father, being Jewish leader, was well respected in the community and Eliezer also reveres him.

Hence, in the beginning of Night, the relationship between Eliezer and his father is one of respect and obedience rather than love and affection. Then the members of the family separate from each other and Eliezer and his father arrive at the camp. Here for the first time, Eliezer sees his father cry for him. He cries for the fate that awaited his son and wished that he had gone with his mother (Wiesel 30). During this stage of the novel, Eliezer notices his father’s love for him and he reciprocates it appropriately with care and affection.

Eliezer realized that the only reason his father wanted him to be with his mother because he does not have the strength to see his own son being assassinated in front of his own eyes (Wiesel 30). During these tough times, they are a source of support for each other. The relationship between them changes from one of respect to one of affection and care. However the cruelties around them make a profound impact on their relationship. In spite of all the negativities, Eliezer clung onto his father for support and believed that their bonding and love was more important than self preservation.

This event actually symbolizes their future relationship and comes as a warning to Eliezer that he should love and care for his father even during the hardest of times (Wiesel 48). Harold Bloom has interpreted Night as “… an account of the initial denial and incomprehension of those Jews who did not take Hitler’s threat seriously. It is a dumbfounded reproach to the rest of the world for letting the Holocaust … occur. It is also a testimony to the absence of God, a lamentation whose theme is God’s betrayal not only of Jews but of any responsibility in promoting justice and righteousness in the world” (Bloom 15).

Eliezer and his father clearly realized that in the darkest of times they are required to understand one another. Thus, through their mutual collaboration during their stay in concentration camp they realized each other so well as if they “[have] never understood one another so clearly" (Wiesel 65). After the New Year, the son and the father are separated as his father was moved to another unit. Though Eliezer was skeptic that during selection his father might not qualify, however, he was selected and they joined together once more (Wiesel 72).

Even though Eliezer is reunited with his father, he appears to be burdened by his presence. Later both of them are loaded into train cars and the Germans throw food in it to see the fighting of hungry Jews over pieces of bread (Wiesel 95). Eliezer saw a father and a son fighting for a small piece of bread and eventually the father gets killed by son (Wiesel 96). Even though Eliezer feels that it is better to get rid of his father, his conscience is continuously shaken by guilt. His father dies and Eliezer still feels guilty for not shedding tears on his death.

His inability to save his father from being beaten to death drove him in such trauma that neither he could mourn for him nor he was able to express his anger again German injustice (Wiesel 106). The relationship between Eliezer and his father changes throughout the story. The events that surround them make a deep impact on their relationship. The relationship between Eliezer and his father is highly connotative from both apparent and metaphorical perspectives. During their stay in concentration camps while they complemented each other as human entities, on the other hand, passive acceptance of the end suggests limitation of human capacity and frailty of fellowship bonds when acts of humanity are causing havoc.

The mutual benevolence as reflected from the relationship between Eliezer and his father suggests that to which extent human beings can survive situational adversities if they retain trust on one another. The end of their relationship, quite on contrary, specifies that once the bond of mutual fellowship is ended, human beings not only become spiritually void but also they lack the capacity to recognize themselves as entities with humane attributes. Works Cited Bloom, Harold. Elie Wiesel's Night.

New York: Infobase Publishing. 2009. Wiesel, Elie. Night. (Translated by: Stella Rodway). New York: Bantam Books. 1982.