Sunday, February 21, 2016

Night - Chlomo Wiesel

In the non-fiction story Night, Eliezer states that Chlomo, his father, rarely showed any emotion, and that he was more concerned with others' situations than with his own family's.

It seems like this changes when they arrive at the first concentration camp. During the selection, he is eager to stay with his son. As they get separated from the girls of their family, who die right after, their bond tightens, determined to stay alive.

They stayed together until Buna, where the were separated for a while. Elie manages to get his father into the same unit as him shortly after, though, and stays with him at all times. Despite that, Elie does not interfere when his father is beat up at the warehouse, possibly due to his inhumanity slowly crawling into the bond he has with his father, or fear of being beat up as well.

On the way to Buchenwald, Chlomo becomes weaker, and needs to rely on his son more. In Buchenwald he contracts dysentery, and completely relies on Elie, like their roles were reversed as father and son; he was retrieved from the snow by Elie, is assisted by Elie to move, and is kept away from trouble by Elie. He has grown so weak, the other prisoners believe that it would be better to steal his ration of food since he would inevitably die soon.

And, they were correct. While resting in the block, Chlomo kept asking Elie for water. He could not comply, so Chlomo went on, when a guard heard him, and ordered him to be quiet. He didn't listen. Soon, the guard had enough of it, and bashed his face with a truncheon.

Chlomo's last word was, "Eliezer."

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