In the final chapters of Night, I felt a great deal of sympathy for both Elie's father and Elie like I had throughout most of the book. When the SS officers did the selection at Gleiwitz, I became very nervous that Elie's father would be shot because he was weak. Elie writes, "The SS officers were doing the selection: the weak, to the left; those who walked well, to the right. My father was sent to the left. I ran after him," (96). When I read this I soon began to feel as if that was the end for his father. However, as I read on, I had a little bit of hope that both Elie and his father would survive this also event. When I got close to the end of the book, I was saddened when I read that Elie's father had not made it. It was heartbreaking to read this novel and learn the tight bond that the father and son had throughout this horrific experience. After all they had been through, it didn't seem fair that his father died. However, this entire experience for the Jewish was not fair at all. This novel is a prime example of how life isn't always fair and you have to overcome obstacles in life. The Holocaust took this lesson to the extreme.
When I neared the end of the novel, I was somewhat disappointed with the ending. Of course, I was upset Elie had lost his father after everything that had gone through together for all those years, but I was especially disappointed that that is basically how Elie ended the novel. It's understandable that Elie was horrified and left numb when his father died, however, I wish he had said more about how he survived this terrible, historic event. Elie says, "I remained in Buchenwald until April 11. I shall not describe my life during that period. It no longer mattered. Since my father's death, nothing mattered to me anymore... I no longer thought of my father, or my mother. From time to time, I would dream. But only about soup, an extra ration of soup," (113). He goes on to say that they freed all the Jews and he became ill two weeks later and went to a hospital. This is all he says. It leaves me wondering, if Elie's father had died at the very first selection when they were first brought into the concentration camp 3 years prior, would he have survived? If he did survive, would he have still written this novel? I think that Elie had such a strong bond with his father that he was the main reason that he wrote this novel. If he had lost his entire family within the first week of entering the concentration camp, I do not believe he would have written this novel or even survived the Holocaust.
The book tricked me too. It was like a rollarcoaster. First I thought they were going to get separated and his father was going to be killed. Then I thought they were going to survive together until liberation day. But then it's even more sad to find out that Elie didn't even get to really say bye to his father becuase they took him away to the crematoria while Elie was gone. But at the same time, Elie started acting like he didn't want his dad around so i almost wonder if he really cared at that point.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the ending. We were taken through almost every little detail up untill that point and we became so hooked to the story that he ended it with out very much for us to picture in our heads. I think that Elie still would've been able to survive without his father being there becuase he is a fighter and I think that's in his personality. But the impact would not have been so strong on Elie, had he not lost almost evey single one of his imediate family members.
http://www.holocaust-lest-we-forget.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/holocaust-liberation-300x256.png
this is a picture of the Holocaust on liberation day