The Relationship Between Eliezer and His Father
Eliezer is the protagonist of the Elie Wiese’s Night narrative. Eliezer was the son of a Jewish elder called Chomlo (Bosmajian 211). Throughout the novel, Wiese narrates how Chomlo treated his son throughout his life. Similarly, he narrates how Eliezer’s attitude towards his father changed from time to time (Downing 124). This paper analyses various changes in the relationship between Eliezer and his father with respect to the Night narrative.
In the beginning, Eliezer hated his father for always being busy attending community meetings at the expense of the family (Downing 125). Wiese avows that Chomlo was a deeply cultured man who rarely displayed his feelings to his family (Bosmajian 212). Eliezer also disliked his father for denying him a chance to pursue theological studies. Chomlo argued that Eliezer was too young to study religion (Bloom 8). This conflict of interest proofs that Eliezer and his father were not close and friendly at the beginning of the narrative.
In the middle of the narrative, Wiese explains how Eliezer gradually changed his mind until he recognized his father as his role model. The author notes that Eliezer started becoming close and friendly to his father to learn his wise principles. Later, Chomlo’s family was evicted from Sighet to the prison camp. During evictions, the victims were separated on the basis of men and women. Children were free to join either group depending on their interest and love. Eliezer chose to join the men to be close to his father (Bosmajian 215). Eliezer’s choice to stay with his father is proof that he had changed his attitude towards his father. It is in the camp where their closeness and friendship flourished. Wiese asserts that Eliezer and his father loved and respected each other very much. The author terms their closeness as inseparable since they always stayed together while in the camp (Downing 125).
Towards the end of the narrative, Eliezer started hating and criticizing his father openly (Bloom 35). Wiese confirms that Eliezer was sure his father was too weak to live for long. Severally, Eliezer confessed that his father was bothering him (Bosmajian 132). Later, Kapo attacked Chomlo’s overstep mismatch as Eliezer watched. Instead of Eliezer helping his father, he criticized him for not stopping Kapo’s blows. When Chomlo eventually died, Eliezer did not mourn. This ignorance shows that Eliezer detested his father and probably he celebrated his death (Bosmajian 218).
In conclusion, Eliezer shows a contradicting attitude towards his father throughout the novel. In the beginning, he hated his father for being committed at the expense of his family. Later, he became close and friendly to his father when they lived together in the camp. Afterward, he developed contempt towards Chomlo and started ignoring him. The climax of Eliezer’s hatred towards his father was proved when he failed to rescue him from Kapo’s attack. Wiese claims that Eliezer later acknowledged that his father died from the injuries he got during the attack. At the end of the narrative, Eliezer seemed to have celebrated his father’s death. In summary, though Eliezer’s attitude towards his father changed from time to time, Chomlo remained loving to his son until his death. This narrative teaches us that parents always love their children despite behaving against their wishes.
Works cited
Bloom, Harold. Elie Wiesel’s Night. New ed. New York: Bloom’s Literary Criticism, 2010. Print.
Bosmajian, Hamida. Sparing the child: grief and the unspeakable in youth literature about Nazism and the Holocaust. New York: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Downing, Frederick. Elie Wiesel: a religious biography. Macon, Ga: Mercer University Press, 2008. Print.