Introduction
It is natural that the relationship between parents and their children is usually composed throughout the period of early childhood. Special attention often has to be paid to the father-son relationship because these two male figures may be both prone to covering their emotions. The deep connection between sons and their fathers may be hard to discover unless a stressful (or even a bad) event occurs. Often, fathers remain the closest persons for their sons who would never turn their backs on them or lie to them. The novel titled Night retells a similar situation where Elie Wiesel, the author, had to overcome the hardships of a problematic relationship with his father and find true love deep inside his soul. The fact that Wiesel describes the majority of events in rich detail proves that his father was an exceptional figure in the boy’s life at that time when they both had been seized and placed in a concentration camp. The current paper aims to track the changes that happened to the father-son relationship in the Night and conclude on whether the true love described by Wiesel actually existed between the two.
The Most Important Father-Son Moments in the Night and Their Meaning
The novel begins with Wiesel actually describing the relationship between Elie and his father as rather detached (yet, not antagonistic in any way). The most important thing the readers learn at the opening of the story is that the father, CShlomo seems to be much more worried about what goes on with others and not his own family (Wiesel 2). Before the Nazi concentration camp, Shlomo and Elie treat each other like strangers because they are not that worried about what is going to happen next. Even though Shlomo is a respectable man who leads a Jewish community in the area, he does not really associate himself with Elie. The latter, on the other hand, does not care about his father that much either. As soon as the whole family gets separated due to being brought to a concentration camp named Birkenau, Elie starts realizing that if the Nazis are going to kill his father, he is going to remain alone in this world. The probable loss starts terrorizing Elie’s mind, as he does not see himself living further without the family.
The separation from his mother and sisters sets off the beginning of the transformation for Elie, as he switches attention to his father and becomes more and more influenced by their relationship. Before the real disaster, Elie had never known his loving and caring abilities because he had nothing to worry about at that time. One of the earlier signs of Elie’s affection and love may be seen in the scene where Shlomo is beaten hard, and Elie starts feeling unconditional anger and fear aimed at the offenders (Wiesel 37). The changing nature of the father-son relationships quickly gets into the readers’ minds because multiple events start hinting at Elie’s growing relationship with Shlomo. The complexity of a relationship that could have ceased back in the day due to mutual ignorance might be hard to explain, but Wiesel does a perfect job establishing that the Nazis and the challenges associated with the death camp became what united the father and the son. Throughout the whole novel, the relationship between Elie and Shlomo became stronger because they knew they could die soon.
When Shlomo becomes weak, Elie realizes that he is rather close to losing his father. The increasing tension between the two is what makes the father-son love even more evident, as, at one point in their concentration camp experience, Shlomo and Elie become as close as ever. It happens when the father and the son celebrate tew Year’s eve together in complete silence, realizing that they could have reached the highest level of understanding at that point (Wiesel 65). Another important thing to mention is that his father became Elie’s only source of hope and faith when he became upset with God and started thinking that God was the one who destroyed his life. As an epitome of humanity, Elie’s father brings out the best in him in order to take away the frustration and willingness to give in to his personal fears. Even though the father and the son did not talk to each other that much, they both realized the value of their relationship. As Wiesel put it, the father was slowly becoming a dead weight for his son due to his fading physical ability, too (86).
Nevertheless, this is where the real emotions start moving the story forward, as Elie chooses to comfort his father and care about him instead of leaving him behind and allowing the Nazis to separate them at the end of the day. When the author describes his feelings about his father becoming weaker, he dwells on how he did not want to lose the re-established connection that Elie and Shlomo would not be able to even feel without going through the death camp experience (Wiesel 82). At one point in the novel, Elie discusses how many sons merely gave up on their fathers when running from the Russians, but he does not leave Shlomo regardless of the father’s health condition. Deep inside, he realizes that it could have been much easier for him to leave the “burden” behind, but he also knows that there is no one in the world who is going to be closer to him than his father is. That particular moment became the climax for Elie, who chose to take care of his weak father even if it would slow him down or even kill him at some point.
Yet, it was damaging for both of them that the thought of becoming free after Shlomo’s death had crept into Elie’s mind. The frustration that he had to get through was unbearable, and the father could not take in any more, so he chose to let his son know that he would die soon. Knowing that Shlomo gave up, his son continued to look after him, but he knew that he is going to remain alone for the rest of his life soon. Finally, Elie’s anger got out of control because he became tired of being responsible for a person that gave up and wanted to die. Even though Shlomo was his father and Elie fought against a rather strong feeling of shame, there was nothing in front of him that could stop Elie from ignoring his father again like he had d it in the past. Nevertheless, the main character’s humility brought him back to his father and allowed him to look after Shlomo for some time after exchanging a bed near Elie’s father for a portion of bread (Weisel 108).
The slow drift that separates the father from the son leads the story to an unexpected ending where Elie’s father gets beaten to death, and Chlomo’s son intentionally does not interfere with Kapos in order not to get beaten as well. Elie’s inability to take action had made him feel guilty because he knew he loved his father but the feeling of relief that came after that was too strong to ignore it. Even though Elie ultimately becomes unresponsive to what goes on around him after his father’s death, the love that he had for Shlomo remains evident. His most precious person in the world was gone, but the memory of his father would live on forever because Shlomo was the one to bring out the feelings of guilt and pain in Elie. Even at times when it could be easier to ignore his father, Elie did not give up and continued to take care of him, which could be considered a sign of unconditional affection and responsibility.
Conclusion
To conclude, it may be safe to say that the relationship between Elie and Shlomo was a unique representation of how a son and his father should treat each other on a daily basis. The path that they had to face proved them both wrong because Shlomo never thought he would see his son as a loving person, and Elie would never believe if someone ever told him that he could display true emotions that come from the heart. Despite the fact that the relationship seemed to be absent at the beginning of the story, the further development of the novel disclosed numerous important points about both Shlomo and Elie. DevoThe devotion affection of the latter replaced the vehemence and hate he had inside him, which is a crucial point of the plot. Wiesel, as the author of the novel, wanted to show that there may and should be a kindhearted, loving relationship between the father and the son, and his approach to storytelling made it possible.
The increasing number of hardships allowed Shlomo and Elie to get even closer and understand each other’s emotions without even having to ask about it. The story culminates at the point where Elie’s father dies, but it does not mean that the main character’s love for his father dies at the same time as well. Instead, it grows into something bigger because Elie realizes that the majority of tough situations would be irresolvable without Shlomo. The willingness to become the best son in the world was what made Elie so strong and loving even though the story of his life does not actually resonate with such words as ‘peace,’ ‘love,’ and positivity. Every person in the world has to have a human in his or her life that is going to provide unstoppable support no matter what. This is why Wiesel raises the question of how a father’s love could be even stronger than a mother’s when it is really necessary. The Night is a novel about true men who were not afraid to look inside their souls and find humility, affection, and patience, even when those came at a rather high price.
Reference
Wiesel, Elie. Night. Macmillan, 2006.