Focus Question: How do Elie's experiences during the Holocaust change him as a person?
Elie Wiesel changes drastically during his time at home, to when he is being liberated from his last concentration camp. The two aspects in which I thought you saw clear progression throughout the whole book were in his belief/practices of religion and his relationship with his father. To start the book, in his town he is obsessed with his religion, wanting it to be the main part of his life. On page 1 he "asked my(his) father to find me(him) a master to guide me in my studies of the cabbala." His father responded in telling him that he was too young for that. Clearly he was so obsessed that he was going beyond what was usual for his age, because he wanted to learn more. When he has been moved to Auschwitz you can see that he begins to question god but isn't really fully swung into not believing or having hope. Elie says "I did not deny God's existence, but I doubted His absolute justice." The key word in this sentence is doubted, because doubted doesn't mean denying, but it means that there is a feeling of uncertainty. At this point there is still some belief that god is good, but he is really beginning to question it all. Then I think it is when they are at Buna in which they witness hangings. Then it was either on New Year when Elie says "As I swallowed my bowl of soup, I saw in the gesture an act of rebellion and protest against Him." At the beginning of the book he praises god and wants to know all about his religion, while the concentration camps have driven him to not only question God's justice but rebel against him in a way. When the time of his liberation has come, his father is no longer with him. His only will, was to eat, and he no longer mentions god. I think his father was what kept him going mentally and the fact that he was gone, caused him to not really think about anything anymore. His family was dead so in a way there was no point in living for Elie anymore. At the beginning Elie is obsessed with religion and god. Then as the book progresses he questions and goes against go because of his silence, in allowing all this to happen. Yet by the end of the book he no longer speaks of god, because he has nothing left.
Also having to do with his father, is the way their relationship develops throughout the book. At the beginning of the story he and his father are distant, his father is more concerned with the community and doesn't pay all that much attention to his son. AT the beginning when he is describing his father, he says "He was more concerned with others than his own family." Then when they are actually sent to the concentration camp everything changes. There is no longer a community, but I think what brought them together the most, was that they were separated from the rest of their family at arrival. When they are transported to Buna, Elie has the opportunity to go to a better working area. He responds in saying "I certainly do. But on one condition: I want to stay with my father." Just a week or so earlier, he and his father were hardly together, yet now thats what mattered. I feel as though in this instance, had the person said no, that only Elie could go, Elie would have turned it down to stay with his father. Later on his father was selected to be killed but after better inspection he was not killed. Before he was sent to better inspection he gave his son, some valuable items at the time, showing that they were looking out for one another no matter what. You see their relationship really develop. They talk more and every decision is based off of one another's best interest. Then after they are leaving their last real concentration camp, where his father was alive, you see how much they mean to each other. Elie says "My father's presence was the only thing that stopped me... I had no right to let myself die." At this point either of them would have given up, had it not been for the other person. They are basically living for one another, not because of God or hope, but for each other. When his father dies, Elie no longer really shows any sense of emotion. He isn't physically dead, yet you feel as though mentally he has died. He has nothing left. Throughout the book when Elie even thinks about leaving his father he immediately feels ashamed, which shows their bond. There are other foils of their relationship that really bring out how special they are to one another. One is when Rabbi Eliahou comes looking for his son. Elie knows that his son left him on purpose to lose the burden of worrying about his father, but doesn't say anything. Then there is an extreme instance in which a son kills his father over a piece of bread. These instances really show how strong Elie and his father were and the bond that they had.
Also having to do with his father, is the way their relationship develops throughout the book. At the beginning of the story he and his father are distant, his father is more concerned with the community and doesn't pay all that much attention to his son. AT the beginning when he is describing his father, he says "He was more concerned with others than his own family." Then when they are actually sent to the concentration camp everything changes. There is no longer a community, but I think what brought them together the most, was that they were separated from the rest of their family at arrival. When they are transported to Buna, Elie has the opportunity to go to a better working area. He responds in saying "I certainly do. But on one condition: I want to stay with my father." Just a week or so earlier, he and his father were hardly together, yet now thats what mattered. I feel as though in this instance, had the person said no, that only Elie could go, Elie would have turned it down to stay with his father. Later on his father was selected to be killed but after better inspection he was not killed. Before he was sent to better inspection he gave his son, some valuable items at the time, showing that they were looking out for one another no matter what. You see their relationship really develop. They talk more and every decision is based off of one another's best interest. Then after they are leaving their last real concentration camp, where his father was alive, you see how much they mean to each other. Elie says "My father's presence was the only thing that stopped me... I had no right to let myself die." At this point either of them would have given up, had it not been for the other person. They are basically living for one another, not because of God or hope, but for each other. When his father dies, Elie no longer really shows any sense of emotion. He isn't physically dead, yet you feel as though mentally he has died. He has nothing left. Throughout the book when Elie even thinks about leaving his father he immediately feels ashamed, which shows their bond. There are other foils of their relationship that really bring out how special they are to one another. One is when Rabbi Eliahou comes looking for his son. Elie knows that his son left him on purpose to lose the burden of worrying about his father, but doesn't say anything. Then there is an extreme instance in which a son kills his father over a piece of bread. These instances really show how strong Elie and his father were and the bond that they had.
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