f the gypsy's attack had come just one day earlier, Elie probably would have struck back. However, the effect of the spiritual beating by the Germans was already being felt. The incident that perhaps has the greatest effect on Elie is the hanging of the pipel. He is a young boy with an "innocent face” who is condemned to death because he is implicated in a conspiracy, which results in a German building being destroyed. When the time for the hanging approaches, the Lagerkapo refuses to kick out the chair, so SS officers are assigned to do it. Unlike the necks of those he is hanged with, the young boy's neck does not break when he falls, and he suffers for over a half-hour. The suffering of the child is comparable to the suffering endured by many Jews during the Holocaust. He fought for his life, at times even seeing a bit of hope, only to be destroyed in the end. The Jews fought for everything they had, from their possessions at the beginning, to their lives at the end. The result, however, was the same. At the end of the war, Elie looks into the mirror, and says he saw "a corpse." This "corpse" is Elie's body, but it has been robbed of its soul. This is similar to the loss suffered by people all over the world. Those not directly involved with the Holocaust were still alive physically, but their mind and spirit had long been dead. By the end of the war, Elie loses all of his faith in God and his fellow man, and this is the most difficult obstacle to overcome when he is released....
