Family Bonds
During the Holocaust, families were torn apart and little were able to remain with even one relative. For those that did manage to have a relative by their side, they either had a detrimental impact on one's self-preservation or a beneficial influence on one's hope and willpower. Elie was able to stay with his father throughout Night, and it is debatable whether his father was more of a burden or aid to him. All in all, Elie and his father had a special connection in that while others killed their family for their own benefit, they remained committed to each other. In the list below, I will provide specific quotes that detail how family bonds were engaged throughout the novel.
- "There was a woman among us, a certain Mrs. Schächter. She was in her fifties and her ten-year-old son was with her, crouched in a corner. Her husband and two older sons had been deported with the first transport, by mistake. The separation had totally shattered her." (pg. 24)
- "Mrs. Schächter had lost her mind. On the first day of the journey, she had already begun to moan. She kept asking why she had separated from her family. Later, her sobs and screams became hysterical." (pg. 24)
- “I was terribly hungry, yet I refused to touch it. I was still the spoiled child of long ago. My father swallowed my ration.” (pg. 42)
- “Two boys came to join our group: Yossi and Tibi, two brothers from Czechoslovakia whose parents had been exterminated in Birkenau. They lived for each other, body and soul.” (pg. 50)
- “I had watched it all happening without moving. I kept silent. In fact, I thought of stealing away in order not to suffer the blows. What’s more, if I felt anger at that moment, it was not directed at the Kapo but at my father. Why couldn’t he have avoided Idek’s wrath? That was what life in a concentration camp had made of me…” (pg. 54)
- “Unfortunately, Franek knew how to handle this; he knew my weak spot. My father had never served in the military and could not march in step. But here, whenever we moved from one place to another, it was in step. That presented Franek with the opportunity to torment him and, on a daily basis, to trash him savagely.” (pg. 55)
- “I decided to give my father lessons in marching in step, in keeping time. We began practicing in front of our block. I would command: ‘Left, right!’ and my father would try… But my father did not make sufficient progress, and the blows continued to rain on him.” (pg. 55)
- “‘They’re bombing the Buna factory,’ someone shouted. I anxiously thought of my father, who was at work. But I was glad nevertheless. To watch that factory go up in flames- what revenge!” (pg. 60)
- “As for me, I was thinking not about death but about not wanting to be separated from my father. We had already suffered so much, endured so much together. This was not the moment to separate.” (pg. 82)
- “I made up my mind to accompany my father wherever he went.” (pg. 82)
- “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.” (pg. 87)
- “...his son had seen him losing ground, sliding back to the rear of the column. He had seen him. And he had continued to run in front, letting the distance between them become greater. A terrible thought crossed my mind: What if he had wanted to be rid of his father? He had felt his father growing weaker and, believing that the end was near, had thought by this separation to free himself of a burden that could diminish his own chance for survival.” (pg. 91)
- “...sons abandoned the remains of their fathers without a tear.” (pg. 92)
- “My father had huddled near me, draped in his blanket, shoulders laden with snow. And what if he were dead, as well? I called out to him. No response. I would have screamed if I could have. He was not moving. Suddenly, the evidence overwhelmed me: there was no longer any reason to live, any reason to fight. ” (pg. 98)
- “I tightened my grip on my father’s hand. The old, familiar fear: not to lose him.” (pg. 104)
- “That is when I remembered that I had a father. During the alert, I had followed the mob, not taking care of him. I knew he was running out of strength, close to death, and yet I had abandoned him.” (pg. 106)
- “Yet at the same time a thought crept into my mind: If only I didn’t find him! If only I were relieved of this responsibility, I could use all my strength to fight for my own survival, to take care only of myself… Instantly, I felt ashamed, ashamed of myself forever.” (pg. 106)
- “For a ration of bread I was able to exchange cots to be next to my father. When the doctor arrived in the afternoon, I went to tell him that my father was very ill.” (pg. 108)
- “To strangle the doctor and the others! To set the whole world on fire! My father’s murderers! But even the cry stuck in my throat.” pg. 109)
- “‘Listen to me, kid. Don’t forget that you are in a concentration camp. In this place, it is every man for himself, and you can not think of others. Not even your father. In this place, there is no such thing as father, brother, friend. Each of us lives and dies alone. Let me give you good advice: stop giving your ration of bread and soup to your old father. You cannot help him anymore. And you are hurting yourself. In fact, you should be getting his rations…’ He was right, I thought deep down, not daring to admit it to myself. Too late to save your old father… You could have two rations of bread, two rations of soup… It was only a fraction of a second, but it left me feeling guilty.” (pg. 111)
- “The sick were allowed to stay in the block. So I would be sick. I didn't want to leave my father.” (pg. 11)
- “I woke up at dawn on January 29. On my father's cot there lay another sick person. They must have taken him away before daybreak and taken him to the crematorium. Perhaps he was still breathing.… No prayers were said over his tomb. No candle lit in his memory. His last word had been my name. He had called out to me and I had not answered. I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!…” (pg. 112)