Night is the true story of Elie Wiesel. The teenager survived the ghettos and concentration camp. His interactions with the people around him raised and lowered his spirits. Auschwitz and Buchenwald was Elie’s hell, but it was not his personal hell. Elie shared this hell with others like God, his father, Juliek, the French girl he worked next too, Rabbi Eliahou, and the Rabbi’s son. Elie throughout the book had a strong will to survive, but he was human as well. The interactions between Elie and others and how it affected his attitude will be examined.
The first major interaction that determined Elie’s fate was with God. Before going to
Auschwitz Elie was devout. Upon his arrival at Auschwitz, Elie lost his faith in God. He relates “Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things” (Wiesel 23). This was a good thing for Elie. He became so hardened against God that he was determined to survive. The teenager was not going down without a fight.
Another interaction that kept Elie alive was his father. Elie and his father’s roles were reversed. Since Elie was younger and stronger, he began to take care of his weakened father. His father was a reason to survive. If Elie died, surely his father would die without his care. Rabbi Eliahou, a friend from home, also had his son with him. They were together much like Elie and his father. Elie said they were together “always near each other, for suffering, for blows, for the ration of bread, for prayer” (Wiesel 32). However when Rabbi Eliahou lost his son on the death march, Elie did not have the heart to tell him his son had left him behind (Wiesel 32). Elie thought:
he had wanted to get rid of his weak father! …. [He] had sought this separation in order to get rid of the burden, to free himself from an encumbrance .