Surv.

Survival in Night
Night by Elie Wiesel is a memoir. Night is about Elie’s life in a World War 2 concentration camp and how he survived. Surviving through something like this takes a lot out of someone. Having a community to be by someone’s side throughout this challenge in life really helps a person. Having a family that a person knows will never give up on them or keeping the religion that they know that something will always be there to believe in or those leaders that give a single person the strength to push on to not give up. Those three facts really show that everyone has something that will keep them strong.
The bond in Elie’s family is what gives him the support he needs to survive through the camp. When the Germans arrive in the small town of Sighet, Elie finds his house in a Ghetto. Some of his family were less fortunate and got kicked out of their houses. Wiesel notes that, “We gave some of our rooms to relatives who had been driven out of their homes” (11). This shows that even though everyone was going through a tough time they still were there for family. Elie had chance to get away he says, “My Father wouldn’t hear of it. He told me and my big sisters, if you wish, go there. I shall stay here with your mother and the little one… Naturally we refused” (20). Elie and his older sisters wanted to stay with their family because it was important to them that they be with each other through out what they went through. When Elie and his family get separated at the camp he writes “My hand tightened its grip on my father. All I could think of was not to lose him. Not to remain alone” (30). This shows that he was fearful of losing his father after being separated from his mother and sisters. During the move to the new camp he said, “My Father’s presence was the only thing that stopped me” (86). This was because he wanted to stop running but he felt that he had to stay strong for his father and he would not let him die and he had to be there for him. When Elie realized that his father was on the edge of death he noted that, “Suddenly, the evidence overwhelmed me: there was no longer any reason to live, any reason to fight” (98). Seeing that his father was going to die and that he had nobody made Elie feel there was no reason for him to go on. Elie did go on and by him going on he has shown the world what he went through and he didn’t get to have the life he may have wanted. That when he was a teen he had to be in a camp and that he lost his parents and younger sister to something horrific. Having faith in a family is not the only thing that will keep a person strong and help them believe.
Wiesel went through this awful event because of his religion; he was a Jew. At first he notes, “We live among Jews, among brothers” (12). This shows that he is proud and that he is happy to be living among people that are just like him and his family. Even though the communities of Jewish people were separated up into ghettos, they still went along as they would normally go. Elie states that “Saturday, the day of rest, was the day chosen for our expulsion. The night before, we had sat down to the traditional Friday night meal. We had said the customary blessing over the bread” (21). This quote shows that the families felt like even though they were going to be taken away from their homes that they still could do their traditional meals and still be the way they had grown to live. Elie also says that, “We mustn’t give up hope” (31). This is when Elie knows that he should not give up hope even if people are treating his family and all the other Jews badly. Elie knows that to get through what he is enduring that he has to believe. When Wiesel is feeling like he needs a push to keep going, he looks to his god and says “ Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me strength…” (91). This shows that even though he is in a concentration camp and feels that he is at the end he can look to his religion and find hope. Having those people that are like you helps people believe in the people who lead and the younger ones who look up to them can help a person survive just knowing that they are being strong. Wiesel notes, “Some twenty people had gathered in our courtyard. My father was sharing some anecdotes and holding forth on his opinion of the situation. He was a good storyteller” (12). This shows that his father was someone that people looked to him for leadership in this situation. When there was important information to be told to the town Elie’s father was the one who would find it ou first and let the town/ghetto know in one incidence Elie noted, “I have been summoned to a special meeting of the Council” (12). This quote also shows that he was the one that had gotten told the information about what was going to happen to the community. Elie’s father was the type of person who liked to help others and everyone looked up to him for things and to help lead them. Elie noted that, “My father had risen before all of us, to seek information in town.”(18). Even when Elie and his father were in the concentration camp. Elie felt that he was okay in the concentration camp some of the time because he writes that, “The Blockalteste was a German Jew. It was good to have Jew as your leader” (51). This is shows that even though he was in a concentration camp some of the time, it was okay because he had a German Jew as a leader. Having a small community like Elie’s or like Islesboro really helps a person survive things that may be hard in their life. The community Elie had is way different from Islesboro because they were going through a war and Islesboro is just a plain community. But they do had similarities in ways that if we didn’t have this community then we wouldn’t be able to have the support they do. Your community gives you the strength to a person they need to survive. Family, belief and leaders to show the way.