Role Of Family In Night By Elie Wiesel

Words: 767
Pages: 4

Family can be the greatest form of survival and can provide the greatest form of strength. Elie Wiesel repeatedly stresses this concept in his autobiography, Night. The motif of familial bonds is continuously used throughout the entire course of the novel and is a key component in the events that occur. This motif progressively develops the theme that family can provide the strength to persevere. In the time of a crisis or struggle, family can often be the only thing someone has to live for. In Wiesel’s Night, family meant everything to the victims in concentration camps. Those who were lucky enough to remain with their family heavily relied on each other for support, strength, and courage. Eliezer Wiesel, the main character in the book, was fortuitous enough to have been deported to the same concentration camp as his father. During his time at the numerous concentration camps he was transported to, he depended on his father for support, which in return gave him the strength needed to endure. Eliezer claims several times that if it were not for his father, he would not be alive: “My father’s presence was the only thing that stopped me… I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support” (Wiesel 86-87). …show more content…
Several of the characters in Night, especially Eliezer and his father, remained side by side with their relatives through even the most arduous moments. The relationship between one family member to another served as an essential tool in the fight for survival. To them, their family served as a safe haven in the heartless world they were forced to exist in. Their bond made one find enough willpower and strength within themselves to continue on. When faced with a difficult or challenging situation, the only way to endure is to confide in and thrive off of the love shared between family