Night: Week of 3/30/15

In Elie Wiesel s novel Night, the main character Elizer goes through a series of changes. Elizer, Elie , is born in a town in Transylvania Hungary by the name of Sighet in 1928. Elie lives in a very highly orthodox Jewish family, and this shows in many of his personality traits and interest as a young man. Early on, Elie likes to study many Jewish texts. 

After Elie and his family were taken away to a concentration camp it was Elie s struggle to survive as a teenager in a camp that changed his emotional maturity, his relationship with his father, and his faith in God and religion. Because of the struggles Elie goes through, Elie loses his innocence and gains an incredible level of emotional maturity. Elie starts out as an innocent young boy full of interest, curiosity, and the potential for incredible success. He lives at first a seemingly nice and normal life with loving parents. Elie s innocence can be seen when he is with his father after he has been separated from the rest of his family and he witnesses the cremation of babies and adults. He says, "Not far from us flames were leaping up from a ditch, gigantic flames Babies! Yes, I saw it with my own eyes I pinched my face. Was I still alive? Was I awake? I could not believe it. How could it be possible for them to burn people, children, and the world to keep silent? No, none of this could be true. It was a nightmare." (pg. 30) This quote illustrates the naivety Elie has about the true cruelty and inhumanity that exist not only in some people but especially behind the Nazi forces under Hitler s rule. 

The events are such an opposite extreme from what Elie knows to be the world he cannot believe what his own eyes are showing him. Later on, because of the things Elie has witnessed, he grows up seemingly cold hearted and he himself seems to have lost some of his humanity. This new emotional state Elie is in can be seen when Elie awakes and sees that his father has been taken away to the crematory. He says, I awoke January 29th at dawn they must have taken [my father] away before dawn and carried him to the crematory. He may still have been breathing I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I had no more tears. (Pg. 106) This quote that shows Elie does not have the tears to cry for his father, who he had cared for and looked after through the most trying trials in his life, shows the incredible effect his journey has had on him.

A person that looked on in horror and disbelief when he witnessed nameless children being burned has been through so much he seems emotionless that his own blood is suffering the same fate. His emotions have matured beyond the childlike naivety he once had. Not only does Elie s plight change his emotional maturity, but also it changes the relationship he has with his father. As Elie continues on his struggle through his adolescent life, his a deep bond and understanding illustrated when Elie looks for his father during Rosh Hashanah. Elie says, I ran off to look for my father He was standing near the wall, bowed down, his shoulders sagging as though beneath a heavy burden. I went up to him, took his hand and kissed it. A tear fell upon it. Whose was devotion to his father weakens and Elie begins to see him as a burden. Elie starts out with a good relationship with his father. As a respected leader, his father conveys a sense of tradition and pride that exist in Elie before going to the death camp. When he and his father are separated from the rest of the family, their blood at first stays strong and Elie does not disrespect his father. The two develop a deep bond and understanding illustrated when Elie looks for his father during Rosh Hashanah. Elie says, "I ran off to look for my father He was standing near the wall, bowed down, his shoulders sagging as though beneath a heavy burden. I went up to him, took his hand and kissed it. A tear fell upon it."

Throughout the story it's clear that Elie had changed a lot. In the beginning he seemed to be very religious but when certain events start to happen he starts to lose himself and his faith. He in a way started to go insane. HIs father guided him back, and it was only towards the end where you got to see Elie and his father unite.

I commented on: Gianna, Jenna, Isabella P.