Analyze on Night

In the novel Night written by Elie Wiesel, the narrator brings us back to the teenager he once was. The reader is exposed to many themes such as the father-son bond and God’s presence during the Holocaust.

Elie, the son of a respected chief in the Jewish community, was taken from his home in Sighet, Transylvania and deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp along with his father. At the beginning of the novel Shlomo, the respected Jewish chief was confident, positive about the future, which lead him to take a decision that would later on have a major impact on his family. He decided that his family would not emigrate even if he knew that the Nazis were coming for him and his community because he didn’t think things would get that bad. Diverse, once taken away, the father became more realist. As every boy, Elie depended on his beloved father for support, love and security, but during that period it was more Shlomo who needed these elements from his son. That’s why the main character did not give up on life and didn’t give in to death. “I had no right to let myself die.” (p.87) Elie would also ask himself a very powerful question towards his bond with his father witch was: “What would he do without me?” (p.88). the father-son relationship between these two characters is very diversified than lots of bonds in Holocaust. For example, Elie witnessed a son beating up his father for food. This example is a great way to expose the reader of the novel about the selfishness happening in that tragic period. However the relationship between Elie and Shlomo clearly shows that the narrator’s love and solidarity are more powerful forces than his need for nutrition. The teenager loved his father so much that he would get mad whenever his father wouldn’t avoid beatings. However, even though Elie loved his father, he couldn’t help but feel as if he was a burden to him. Till this day the writer feels guilty about not being able to take care of or prevent others from harming his beloved father. In a way I feel that the father-son bond between these two characters is similar to my relation with my father. When my sister and I were ten years old my parents got divorced, we had the choice to live half of the time with our father and the other half with our mom or to live with our dad and see our mom everyday. My twin and I took the decision to live with our father because we asked ourselves a similar question as Eli witch was: What would he do without us half of the time?

At the beginning of the novel Night, the reader is exposed to an Elie who would believe that God is everywhere and everything on earth reflects God’s holiness and power. However, his beliefs towards God are flustered during his experience in the Holocaust, the teenager started questioning the presence of God. “I did not deny God’s existence, but I doubted his absolute justice”, said Eli (p.37). His faith towards God was insecure because of all the violence, cruelty, selfishness and evilness he witnessed during that terrifying moment of his life. The teenager would also ask himself why isn’t God stopping this? Because a good God wouldn’t let such a thing happen. The Jewish teenager turned his back on God when his father passed away. However, he prayed lots of times during the Holocaust for example when he feared to lose his father. I am sure that every human, at one point of their life has doubted the existence of God. As a catholic

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