Terrens Toussaint

Mrs. Crowell

Advanced composition

1 May 2017

Father and son

Elie Wiesel wrote Night a memoir about his time in a concentration camp. During the

year of 1938 the transportation of Jews begun. In the memoir Night, Wiesel wrote about is

difficult times in the concentration camps. The horrific things he seen in the camps. Throughout

the story, sons abandon their fathers and it keeps Wiesel from abandoning his father. However, in

the end, Wiesel must carry on alone to survive like the other prisoners must do.

The concentration camps affects the relationships between father and son in numerous

ways. During Wiesel time in the concentration camp, he did not want to lose his dad. Wiesels

father gives him the strength to survive. He said My hand tightened its grip on my father. All I

could think about was not to lose him (30). Different prisoners endure their own problem in the

concentration camp. The concentration camp had a different effect on other father and son

relationships. Sons in the concentration camps mistreats and abuse their father. They also take

their ration of bread: I once saw one of them, a boy of thirteen, beat his farther for not making

his bed properly (63). If you dont stop crying instantly, I will no longer bring you bread (63).

This act shows the reader how cruel prisoners got in the concentration camps. A prisoner died

trying to get bread, but his son did not care if he died. He searched his body and took the bread

he had left His son searched him, took the crust of bread, and began to devour it (101). Other

prisoners jumped the son of the dead father for the peace of bread.
 Through the memoir, Wiesel relationship with his dad starts to change. At the beginning

of the memoir, Wiesel would stand up for his father. He also stands there and watches a gypsy

slap and disrespect his dad. When Wiesels dad was being beat, all he could do is watch him:

then, as if waking from a deep sleep, he slapped my father with such force that he fell down and

then crawled back to his place on all fours. My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I

had not even blinked. I had watched and kept silent (39). Another instant where Wiesel could

not do anything to help his dad, I had watched it all happening without moving. I kept silent. In

fact, I thought of stealing away in order not to suffer the blows (54). Wiesel wants to take the

iron bar away from, but he could not because he would have been beat too. When they went to

the center of Germany, he wants to be by his fathers side. Wiesel hopes not to be like one of the

prisoners who left their father: Oh God, master of the universe, give me the strength never to do

what Rabbi Eliahus son has done (91). He does not want to be one of those sons who left their

fathers. He does not want to be like the other sons who abandon their fathers. He cares about his

father, and he does not want to be alone.

Wiesel only survives because he wanted to stay with his dad. The concentration camp

split apart Wiesel family. The only person with Wiesel is his dad. Wiesel thought of killing

himself, but his father just keeps walking to their certain death. If his dad died, at the beginning

of when they arrived at the concentration then Wiesel would have given up. Wiesel and his father

stays together from the beginning to when Wiesels farther died. On their way to the center of

Germany, Wiesel thought that he cannot die and leave his father all alone. Wiesel worries about

his father and shows the selflessness during the march. He said I had no right to let myself die.

What would he do without me? I was his sole support (87). His father needs Elie just like Elie

needs his father. Wiesel tries to help his father by teaching him how to march correctly. He said
I decided to give my father lessons in marching in steps, in keeping time. We began practicing

in front of our blocks. I would command: left, right! and my father would try. He tries teaching

his father because he does not to see his da get beaten. He tries to make his dad time in the camp

easier. When Wiesels father faces selection, his father gives him a spoon and knife as his

inheritance. All he thinks about is his father going through another selection and being with his

father again.

Father and son relationship changes as time went on in the concentration camps. The

memoir shows how fathers and sons treats each other. The concentration camp can break any

father and son, but Wiesels shows that he can stay with his father and not leave him even when

they face tough times.