Mendenhall 1

Zeke Mendenhall

Mr.Bigelow

English 10

10 April 2015

Night: A Story of Pain

Relationships come in many shapes and sizes; there are many types of relationships for

example: Family relationships, lovers, acquaintances, and countless others. Relationships can

do many things to a person, they can give them hope, and they can create pain. Relationships

are made for the benefit of one or both people. In the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel shows how

his relationship with his father helped him survive the holocaust. in the beginning Elies

relationship with his father is that of a normal teenager ,Elie didn't view the relationship with his

father as important, prior to the holocaust. However, after Elie and his father were put into a

concentration camp together, Elie began to realize how important his father was to him and the

relationship grew stronger. Over time Elie began to realize that his father was the most

important thing to him and gave him the hope to survive Auschwitz.

The relationship in the beginning is that of a normal relationship with a teenager and his

father. His father was quite controlling of what Elie did as well, how it might affect the whole

family, including his mother and sisters. For example Elies family was jewish and when Elie

wanted to explore something more advanced his father wouldn't let him: He wanted to drive the

idea of studying Kabbalah from my mind.(5) Elie felt like his dad had too much control over him

and he felt let the relationship was strained. As the war progressed the Germans started to force

the Jews to move into ghettos. This gave Elie the chance to see his dad in a new light because

his dad was helping the community: Go and wake the neighbors said my father they must get

ready . . . (15) Elie felt that since his father was helping the community he was a person not

just a father.
 Mendenhall 2

As time progressed Elies relationship with his father grew stronger. Elie and his father

got separated from their family and got put into Auschwitz together.There was a moment when

news traveled through the camp that the Allies were bombing the crematorium, where the

Germans had been killing many jews. When he head the news:Theyre bombing the Buna

factory, someone shouted. I anxiously thought of my father, who was at work. Elies first

thought was for his father and his safety.Some time later he and his father were part of a group

that was being transferred by train As his father became sicker and weaker Elie grew worried

when the men who were throwing dead bodies off the train tried to collect his father: Father!

Father! Wake up. Theyre going to throw you outside Elies desperation to wake his father

truly shows how vitally important his father had truly become to him.

By the end of his memoir Elies father had become the only reason for Elie to live. When

first separated from his sisters and his mother as Elie and his father were herded into the camp

he reflected: I tightened my grip on my fathers hand. The old, familiar fear: not to lose him.

This is the beginning of the relationship that grew to mean everything to Elie. He states: I shall

not describe my life during that period. It no longer mattered. Since my fathers death, nothing

mattered to me anymore. By having his father to live for, especially since he didn't know if his

mother or sisters were alive, it gave Elie the strength to survive . Had his father died earlier Elies

chances to make it would probably have been slim.

By describing the relationship with his father in his memoir Elie Wiesel showed the

importance of hope and having something to hold onto during tragedies. Prior to the holocaust

Elie had a normal teenage relationship with his father and it wasn't very important to him . But

when Elie had lost everything except his father that relationship became literally became life or

death . Elies message is clear, it is possible to survive horrible situations when there is

something or someone to believe in