The first time Eliezer's father is physically attacked,
Eliezer feels helpless and remorseful
. He fails to stand up for his father against the gypsy. When Idek attacks Eliezer's father, Eliezer keeps quiet and thinks of saving himself. He is angry at his father for not avoiding the attack.
What does Elie do when his father is hit what is his father's response?
What was his father's response?
Elie did nothing
, because as the gypsy struck his father Elie was in shock of what just happened. His father came back in line and guessed Elie's feelings quietly saying “it doesn't hurt.”
Why does Elie think of his father when he is being beaten?
The Jews were constantly being beaten for one thing or another, but in this instance the specific reason is because
Elie's father was dying
. He is burning up with fever and is very ill. The “head of the block” tells Elie that nothing can be done for him and that he needs to look out for himself.
What was Elie's reaction to seeing his father beaten with an iron bar How is his reaction different now compared to how he might have reacted to this sight at the beginning of the book?
He beat Elie's father with
an iron bar because he was moving too slowly
. Elie was angry, not at Idek, but at his father for not knowing how to avoid Idek's wrath. This was yet another way in which the Nazis dehumanized the Jews.
How does Eliezer respond when he fears his father has been selected How does he respond when he learns his father has avoided the final selection?
How does Eliezer respond when he fears his father has been “selected”? When he discovers that he has indeed been “selected”? When he learns his father has avoided the “final selection”?
He thinks that the burden of his father's lack of strength will finally be lifted from him, but he hates that he thinks that.
What was Elie's father's last words?
At dawn on January 29, Elie wakes and discovers that another invalid occupies his father's bunk. He assumes that his father has been taken to the crematory and recalls that his father's final word was “
Eliezer
.” Too weary for tears, Elie realizes that death has liberated him from a doomed, irretrievable burden.
How does Elie feel when his father dies?
By the time Elie's father dies, Elie is simply too emotionally exhausted to cry. He has stayed with his father during his a long train ride to Buchenwald
Why does Wiesel cry when praying?
Why did Eliezer pray? Why did he cry when he prayed? He says that he does not know why he prays it is simply because he has always done it; he cries when he prays
because something deep within him feels the need to cry
.
What does Akiba Drumer ask the prisoners to do after he dies?
Akiba Drumer makes a simple request to his fellow inmates: that they say
the Kaddish
Why do they clean the block when they are about to leave?
Why is the wooden floor of the block cleaned before they leave?
The prisoners were told to keep it clean so the liberators don't think they lived in a pigsty
.
What does Eliezer mean when he writes that he feels free after his father's death is he free of responsibility or is he free to go under to drift into death?
What does Eliezer mean when he writes that he feels free after his father's death? …
That the burden of his father will be done if he dies
. That he is free of the responsibility of having to take care of him.
Why are these two hangings so important to him?
Why are these two hangings important to him and how do they differ from all the others?
They were hangings where he felt two extremes
. They were both hangings that shook him to his core. They were both used to show how he did not care about who was hanged as long as it wasn't him.
Why was Elie's father's last words so significant?
Chlomo's last words emphasize
the importance of the relationship between the father and son
. After being separated from the rest of their family, Elie and Chlomo only have one another. For Chlomo in particular, Elie has become his entire world, especially since the roles of parent and child have slowly been reversed.
Why was water the worst poison for Elie's father?
In Night, water was the worst poison for Elie's father
because it was polluted with fecal matter
, which was the cause of his dysentery. Drinking it would simply bring on another round of diarrhea.
What illness did Elie's father have?
His father died of
starvation and dysentery
in the Buchenwald camp.
What is wrong with Elie's father when he finds him?
Confined to his bed, Eliezer's father continues to approach death. He is afflicted with
dysentery
, which makes him terribly thirsty, but it is extremely dangerous to give water to a man with dysentery. … The next morning, January 29, 1945, Eliezer wakes up to find that his father has been taken to the crematory.
