Depiction of the Image of Father in "Night" By Elie Wiesel
In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, death and despair fill the worlds of the protagonist and his father, Shlomo. They are forced out of their home in Sighet and into trains that would then take the protagonist and his whole family to Birkenau. Before they were taken to Birkenau, Shlomo was a respected Jewish leader that made mistakes just like any other Jew. He disregarded the warnings that his family get about danger coming their way and then decides that the whole family should just stick out the danger. It is not until the family reaches Birkenau that Shlomo realizes what is actually going on, the holocaust.
In the novel Shlomo’s inner desires consist of taking care of him and his son Elie make sure they survive the holocaust. He insures this by rationing food for him and Elie. He also insures this by lying about the age of himself. The Nazi’s would kill anyone they thought would not be of aid for hard labor. In their eyes women and children were completely useless and anyone younger than 18 or someone reaching of old age would also be useless. Through the novel Shlomo and Elie are loyal to each other and are the ideal father son duo. Many fathers and sons eventually turn on one another for a number of reasons, some as small as a piece of bread. Even after Elie was told “In this place it is every man for himself, and you cannot 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”. They remain loyal to one another. This displays Shlomo’s internal character and how he was caring, he suffered for Elie to survive.
A characteristic of Shlomo is that he is strong willed. Anyone can tell that Shlomo is strong willed after all he faced, he still had the strength to go one. Despite being targeted and beaten on numerous occasion he still keeps his faith and focuses on his son, though losing sight sometimes. An example of this is when Shlomo thinks he’s been selected and then hands over a knife and a spoon. They might seem worthless to you and, but in this society, everything is of value, even the crust off of bread. “I stood petrified. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked”. In this quote Shlomo had been beaten by a guard and his faith had been diminished some. A few weeks later his faith had been restored. Shlomo’s level of faith in being freed varied from day to day.
Other traits of Shlomo consist of him being independent even though he is quite old and frail, and also caring. An example of Shlomo being caring is when he offered to watch over Elie as he slept to make sure he wouldn’t fall asleep and never wake back up. “Don’t worry my son. Go to sleep. I’ll watch over you”. This quote displays what kind of person Shlomo was, even though he was weaker than Elie, he still made the effort to look after him. Ultimately putting Elie before himself.
For his age Shlomo is definitely independent. He lied to the guards and told them he was forty years old, when in reality he was fifty. He still did the same task as the other men but at a much older age. This shows how he didn’t let any differences between him and other men get in the way of him surviving.
