y begin to act like animals. Some of them even beat Madame Schachter in order to quiet her, while others supported the beating. Not only does God fail to save the Jews, the Jews themselves fail to act human. Their acts were all the affects of being treated inhumanly by the Nazis. Eliezer also starts to lose his sense of morals and values, along with his faith. Survival had become Eliezer’s main goal, in a world in which survival is unlikely. He lives only to feed himself. There was a time when Idek beat his father; Eliezer felt no pain or pity. Instead, he was furious at his father for not being able to avoid Idek’s anger. Eliezer also noted that he had seen a 13-year-old boy beat his own father for making his bed improperly. This showed that even the relationship between parent and child grows weak under Nazi tyranny. Other examples of this relationship becoming weaker was when Rabbi Eliahou’s son abandoned him during the evacuation from Buna and when a son beat his own father to death for a crust of bread on the cattle car. These incidents show how inhuman people can get when they are mistreated for too long. One purpose of Night was to prevent the Holocaust from ever reoccurring. While another purpose was to preserve the memories and traditions of the victims. The last reason why Night was written was to lessen the guilt he felt over his father’s death. On January 29, 1945, Eliezer woke up to the realization that his father was taken to the crematory. Shamefully he did not cry. Instead, he was relieved. There were times when Eliezer actually thought of abandoning his father, to conserve his strength. When his father was sick, Eliezer brought soup and coffee to him. Although apart of him wanted to keep the food for himself. It was this guilt that drove him to record the events of the Holocaust. He must honor his father’s memory and repay his sacrifice. Eliezer had been a victim to ...
