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How were Jews treated when the war started
How did Elie change throughout the story
Elie has lost faith, lost his family, his home, and childhood
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"A prolonged whistle split the air. The wheels began to grind. We were on our way." (xx). From living a somewhat happy life to being starved and miserable, Elie and his father learn to live in different circumstances and potentially losing or gaining things important in their lives. Throughout the ways Elie has changed, how has he changed with his relationship with God his one thing he realize on, his father, and how has his physical health which was once heathy, changed?
Elie Wiesel had a very strong religion and always wanted to improve his faith but when the war came he began to lose all faith that he couldn't find anything to believe in anymore, because of all the horrible things that went on in the camps and the working
In the beginning, Elie and his father's relationship was very distant and they both had different views, such as that Elie wanted to seek out a master, but his father didn't want him to. They soon learned to let go of the hate, that they became closer and they depended more on each other. Elie started to take care of his father because he was getting sick and weak, so Elie had to learn to become accustomed to not just taking care of himself. Towards the end of the his father was very sick on their march to the next camp, and he just wanted to sleep so he could rest, but Elie knew that if he did he would die in his sleep so Elie made sure that they stayed awake and try to live until the war ends. "I can't anymore... It's over.... I shall die right here..." (CV) But his father died just three months before the camp was
In the beginning, Eli seemed like a normal teenager with a normal family with a home and food, which probably meant he was pretty healthy. But soon as the war begins, he starts to become skinny because they hardly got fed. They were fed a portion of bread and soup most days, but others they might have gone without food. So at the end of the war, Elie was so skinny and malnutrition, he needed to go to a hospital to recover. He said he couldn't even recognize himself. "From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me." (CXV)
Elie has changed in many ways, but he had changed more through losing his faith with God, getting closer with his father, then having to lose him to death, and becoming a walking corpse. Hitler had costed him his religion, his father, and his health. With learning about the past, we, the citizens of today, can hopefully avoid having this horrible time in history recur and try to make better
After being forced into concentration camps, Elie was rudely awakened into reality. Traumatizing incidents such as Nazi persecution or even the mistreatment among fellow prisoners pushed Elie to realize the cruelty around him; Or even the wickedness Elie himself is capable of doing. This resulted in the loss of faith, innocence, and the close bonds with others. Throughout his recollections, it is clear that Elie has a constant struggle with his belief in God. Prior to Auschwitz, Elie was motivated, even eager, to learn about Jewish mysticism.
At the beginning of the book, Elie mentioned that his father, Shlomo, was admired and respected by all the family members. Outside the family, “The Jewish community of Sighet held him in highest esteem” (Wiesel 4). Through the first few days in the concentration camps, Elie had relied on his father’s presence and protection to get him through his daily life. He was dependent on him as evident during the initial selection when he states that “My hand ti...
Elie Wiesel, a Jewish boy, lives in Sighet during World War II with his mother, father, and two sisters, and he is very religious and wanted to study Judaism. However, there were warnings by some people that Jewish people were being deported and killed. Although no one believes these warnings, Elie and his family are taken to a ghetto where they have no food. After being in the ghetto Elie and his father are separated from Elie’s mother and sister because of selection and were placed in cattle cars where they had no room. They are taken to Auschwitz where they suffer from hunger, beatings, and humiliation from the guards which causes Elie’s father to become weak. By now Elie loses his faith in God because of all he has been through. Lastly, Elie’s father dies just before the Jews are liberated and Elie sees his reflection in the mirror but does not recognize himself because he looks like a skeleton.
An estimated 1/3 of all Jewish people who were alive were grotesquely tortured and murdered during the Holocaust. Those who were not murdered went through changes mentally, physically, and spiritually. This changed many people’s identities to where they seemed like a completely different person. Elie was one of the many people whose identity had changed throughout their time at the death camps.
Almost every Jew had a conflict with themselves. As a hole they had to fight to keep going. Thats because most of them were starving and lost their families. Most jews turned against each other to survive. They even went as far as to kill each other to get food to survive(101 ). This effected Elie because he had to see his own people turn against each other.
Also, he remained calm when his father was harassed by the guards. In the book, Elie said “Then I had to go to sleep”(Wiesel 112) and after his father’s death, the thing he said wasn’t about his sadness. It was about his freedom. He said, “Free at last”(Wiesel 112). Elie is not the old Elie anymore.
Elie, who was a teenager at the time of the novel, stood by his father’s side and assisted his father through physical challenges they had to face. Wiesel writes “I decided to give my father lessons in marching in step, in keeping time” (page 55). This shows that Elie is helping his father avoid the “selection” by giving him marching lessons to help him survive the death march. Elie stayed by his father’s side even in the harshest conditions. Elie writes “my father’s presence was the only thing that stopped me. He was running next to me out of breath, out of strength, desperate. I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support” (page 86-87). This shows that Elie remained loyal to his father by staying with him no matter what. In conclusion Elie is considered a hero because of the familial commitment choice to stand by his
For example, in one of the cattle car rides in between camps, workers were throwing pieces of bread into the karts for amusement. The consequence of this is that the Jews began fighting each other for the few crumbs. This effect one elder jew to sneak into the fighting to snatch a two pieces one for him and one for his son, however he is attacked and killed by his own son for the food and is only a few seconds after that killed by onlookers for the food. The results in Elie promising to himself to never be like that and to take care of his father, however he later on when his father gets sick he thinks it better if he were to die so he can focus on his own survival. He then feels ashamed for thinking so and those are some of the last thoughts he has about his father before his dismissal and is affected even greatly because of
During their journey, Elie loses his father due to illness however does not feel much emotion. After witnessing his own die, Elie “did not weep” and “deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!...” (Wiesel 112). While going through the camp Buna, Elie and his father had develops a strong relationship with one another. However, after his father’s death, Elie “did not weep” and displays very little towards the event. Elie had felt that his father was a liability for his own survival and did not feel the need to weep over his death. Elie also states that he was “Free at last” showing that throughout the course of the novel Elie had thought as his father as pulling him back from survival. The reason for Elie feels this way is because Elie is still on his journey and his primary goal is to survive through the camps. Elie has become quite desperate through his journey of survival and searches the “recesses of my feeble conscience” for his most inner thoughts. Throughout the novel, Elie had been storing these thoughts in the back of mind. These thoughts include him thinking of his father as liability and him being free from him. At their first arrival at the camps, Elie and his father had been very close to one another going through their journey of survival. However, after
His father is getting old, and weak, and Elie realizes his father does not have the strength to survive on his own, and it is too late to save him. "It's too late to save your old father, I said to myself..."(pg 105). He felt guilty because he could not help his father, but he knew the only way to live is to watch out for himself. "Here, every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else. Even of his father..."(pg 105). He thinks of himself, and
...ow much more independent he has become. His reaction to his father's death also represents this loss of innocence: “I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears” (Wiesel 112). This scene reveals the fact that Elie has realized that there are many evils in the world. His lack of emotion and tears shows that he understands how bad the Nazis' actions are and how cruel the world can be. This realization ultimately represents his loss of innocence and maturation.
When his father was beat up by the guard or even he was getting beat up by the Kapo. Elie could only think of himself, which is a good thing not wanting to get hurt for others in my opinion. Also, when Rabbi’s son ran away from him I would guess Elie would think of the same thing but instead wanted to protect his father. Then last when Elie’s father was about to die his last words was, “Elizer” which was Elies name. Elie was finally think that his duty is over on protecting his father. Also, Elie also thought, “free at last” which meant his can fend for him. So, his relationship with his father wasn’t good. Cause Elie thought the reason he is alive because of his father. That is why his relationship with his father wasn’t a good
Physically, Elie basically changes from a healthy human being into a walking skeleton. The Jews can be described as “skin and bones”. They were also extremely weak. Being forced to work at their labor camps must have been extremely difficult. The lack of food served at the camps, as well as the poor quality of what is being served made him that way. The Jews were only fed bread and soup. It gets to the point where everything revolves around food and each person’s own survival. For example, on page 104, Elie’s father claims that the other prisoners were beating him. Elie’s then says “ I began to abuse his neighbors...
Elie could not have helped his father from being beaten by the SS guards because on Page 284 in the November 2000 issue of Oprah's Magazine, Elie and her have an interview and during the interview he tells about the times in the camp when his father was being beaten and he said, "And i realized that is was when my father, who was sick, called out to me- and I didn't respond, because I was afraid to be beaten up. I let him die." He also was afraid to stand up to the people in the barracks because he said, "That day my father got his portion of bread, and somebody who saw that he was dying stole his bread." He tried very hard to protect hi father and felt sorrow because he said, "My father wanted me to protect him, but i couldn't."
This new behavior lead him to develop new character traits. While Ellie was in the concentration camp he became angry at many things, for example “I would have dug my nails into the criminals flesh” (Wisel 39). Elie shows extreme anger when the Nazi officials are beating Elie’s father. Elie was angry because the Nazi soldiers were not treating them nicely and putting them in poor conditions. Elie is usually not a person for anger but he shows this when his family members are being hurt. Elie wants to stand up for what is right and for his family members. Despite his studying, Elie wavered in his belief in Kabbalah while he was at the camp. In the book Elie says, “‘Where are You, my God?’” (66). Elie is wondering why God is not helping the Jews. Elie had complete faith in his religion until now, when he is starting to question his beliefs. He had learned that God will punish evil and save the righteous. However, when Elie saw that God was not helping the Jews situation then asked himself the question, “Is God real?”. Elie became worried because he felt he had lost a companion that always seemed by his side at all times. He lost hope. While Elie was in the camp he had changed the way he acted towards his Dad. Before Elie was sent to the camp Elie had a love hate relationship with his dad. However while they were in the camp together they became closer. Elie showed this when, “I tightened my grip on my