Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, describes the author's traumatic and extremely painful experiences during the Holocaust. At the age of 15, Elie witnesses his father, Shlomo, cry for the first time, which he once believed to be “impossible” (19). Not long after, Wiesel watches his father die slowly because his body is infected with dysentery. Elie was one of the many sons who lost their father in the Holocaust. Elie and Shlomo both had a fair understanding that having a functional father-son relationship during such a tumultuous time directly corresponded to their chance of survival. According to Wiesel’s memoir, the Holocaust destroyed countless father-son relationships. It is important to Elie that he and his father do not break their bond. Watching the other fathers and sons in the camp makes Elie realizes that he must learn to put his youthful problems away and protect his father in order to survive and preserve his relationship with his father. Although Elie is strikingly young during the time of the Holocaust, he must learn to put his youthful problems away in order to help his father and survive. “The good days were over” (44), Elie says. During the times of constant relocation and forced labor, Elie makes tough decisions. From taking care of his father to deciding when to sleep, he has a lot to worry about. During the Holocaust, many father-son relationships cracked under this pressure. For example, Rabbi Eliahu and his son can not handle the burden each one placed on the other. In the memoir, Wiesel explains how Rabbi Eliahu’s son tried to escape his father. Elie Wiesel’s writes, “His son had seen him losing ground, sliding back to the rear of the column...he had continued to run in front, letting the distance between them become greater” (91). It was evident that the Rabbi’s son can not handle the difficulties of having to help his sick father. Because the conditions are becoming more and more harsh the elderly or in this case, fathers, get progressively weaker. Naturally, they can not keep up with their younger sons any more. This forces sons to make the decision of whether or not they will continue carrying the burden of their fathers. It was clear that Elie does everything he can to try and save his father. Elie expresses, “I knew that he must not drink. But he pleaded with me so long that I gave in”(110). Even though Elie knows the end is near for his father, he still reassures him that everything will be okay. Someone once told Wiesel, “In this place, it is every man for himself, and you cannot think of others. Not even your father” (110). Elie claims to feel guilty about thinking about abandoning his father even though the thought lasts for “only a fraction of a second” (111). However, this thought does not make Elie and his father’s relationship crumble. However, no matter how strong Elie and his father try to keep their bond to stay alive, Shlomo still dies. Sholmo’s harassment gets so bad in the concentration that Elie Wiesel has to take extra precautions to preserve their relationship. In one particular instance, Shlomo gets beat up because Elie does not want to give one of the inmates, Franek, his gold crown. As Elie is reflecting on his relationship with his father, “I told him that I needed to get my father's advice...when I mentioned it to my father, he hesitated. After a long silence, he said: "No, my son. We cannot do this.’ ‘He will seek revenge!’ ‘He won't dare, my son’” (55). Since Elie did not give the crown to Franek, he decides to beat up Shlomo until Elie compiles. The only thing Elie saw fit to do was give in. Wiesel says, “he knew my weak spot” (55). He could not bear to see his father harassed by other inmates. When Shlomo was dying, Elie tries his best to help but does not manage to keep his father alive. These examples prove that in this extreme and hostile situation, Wiesel’s need and want to help his father is constricted because there is nothing he can actually do. Once the feeling of hopelessness overcomes the sons, they feel they can not continue any longer with their father’s in the picture. A great representation of sons turning their fathers would be when a son kills his own father in the cattle cars on the way to Buchenwald. The father repeatedly shouts at his son, “‘Meir, my little Meir! Don't you recognize me … You're killing your father… I have bread…for you too…’” (101). It is clear that the father in this situation cares about his son still but the son does not care about his father any longer. The son solely cares about his own well-being at that point and whether his father remains alive or not is none of his concern anymore. This phenomenon of dehumanization makes the inmates do horrible things. Elie Wiesel and Shlomo, however, do overcome this phenomena. In closing, If Shlomo did not contract dysentery, their relationship would have made it to the day of liberation. Wiesel and his father never display to each other a sign of damage in their relationship. Both parties know that it is fundamental to their survival to never turn on each other. Even though many sons were abandoning their fathers, Wiesel never physically leaves his father’s side. Due to extenuating circumstances, Shlomo could not carry on. Nevertheless, Wiesel and Shlomo remains consistent with their relationship allowing Elie to live to liberation and his father just missing it.
Works Cited Wiesel, Elie. Night. Translated by Marion Wiesel, New York, Hill and Wang, 2006.