Monday, February 14, 2011

Chapter 6 (pages 85-97): Fathers and Sons

Why does Elie pray, "Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu's son has done" (90 or 92?)'

What did Rabbi Eliahu's son do? Why? What is Elie afraid of?

16 comments:

  1. Elie may have lost his faith in god but he is determined to remain in stong contact with his father. As they are running for miles and miles bare-foot in the snow Elie makes sure he reaches the destination with his father near. His only remaining kin is his father and it would be heart wrenching to endure the torture alone.He could never picture leaving his father for dead. They look out for each other. They are all they have left and its too precious to chance in the turmoil around them. The rabbi's son however is selfish. He was only looking out for himself. Elie has enough respect for his father to have his back or at least attempt to keep him out of harms way. Elie is praying to not becoming cold harded towards the person he loves. He prays that his soul is indifferent to the harsh treatment his body is enduring. Elie is willing to remain strong for himself and his faher. That is a truely, unbreakable bond.
    -KeAmber Green

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  2. What Rabbi Eliahu's son does to him is something that Elie has feared he might do in the long run. Rabbi Eliahu's son saw that his father was struggling with running the in below freezing weather so he ran ahead and left him behind. Elie witnesses this horrible act of a father and son relationship. At this point, Elie doesn't know what to believe anymore. He doesn't know if he believes in God or anyone else for that matter. I do believe that he still has faith, which is what is keeping him from going crazy throughout the hard times. So Elie, with the little strength and faith that he has left, tries to get himself together to try not to leave his own father behind as he just witnessed. He knows all his father and himself have been through and tries not to break the bond that many at the camp have crushed along the way.

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  3. Elie never wants to repeat the action that Rabbi Elishu's son did. Like Nalleli said, Rabbi Elishu's son left his father behind. He did not think of his father's feelings, he was just worrying about himself; he went ahead and forgot all about his father. Elie is afraid of getting into a situation where he might, have to do the same thing, leave his father. The only family member that Elie has left is his father. They have gone through everything together, so to leave him behind is heartbreaking. Your family is your support, they help you get through the tough times. So Elie does not want to get rid of his only support. He is just praying to God that at the very end, he will still have his father beside him. He does not want to betray his father for his own sake.
    - Nancy Joykutty

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  4. I agree with Nalleli. Elie saw his owns fears realized in the actions of Rabbi Eliahu's son. He doesn't want to be parted with his father, but he is scared as well. When he sees the son leave his father, he realizes that it has become 'every man for himself'. The important thing is surviving, even at the cost of another person's life. Elie also begins to lose faith even more than he already has after witnessing this act. He says that he is rebelling against God many times throughout the book, but I believe his faith has been instilled in him so deeply that it's there even without him realizing it. He is able to get through so much up to this point because of his faith and his refusal to give up. His faith helps him with his fear of separation from all he has left, which is his father. He is always watching out for him and making sure that he keeps him in sight.

    - Katie :)

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  5. Elie and his father have been on the highway to Hell for who knows how long by now, and they ran most of it. The snow came down heavily, the SS was eager to shoot those who didn't keep up, and even if you were able to rest without the SS finding you, you faced the risk of being run over by the stampede of Jews running across the way. Elie was exhausted, as he was running for his life, and wanted with all his heart for the ordeal to be over, and even considered giving up and dying in the stampede or being shot or whatever: however, then he remembers why he's still going, even after everything he's been through already. He's here for his father, his only remaining family. Zalman believed his father Rabbi Eliahou was weak and would die soon enough, so he ended his own trouble at the expense of his father, who inspired and calmed so many of the other Jews, being left alone. It takes either a great deal of courage to kill yourself as Zalman did, or really a great deal of cowardice - nevetheless it took a lot of strength, physically and mentally, to do what Zalman did. Elie prays he is never swayed to join Zalman and have the strength to abandon his father, no matter how much worse things in Hell get.

    - Chris Ramirez.

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  6. Everyone has already covered the big parts extensively and have pointed out valuable information. What I think Elie was afraid of was that he would lose his humanity, his love for his father and become selfish and apathetic. The rabbi's son had done this and had shed some bad light on him. I don't know if comparing a rabbi's son to a pastor's son is legit. In our society, a pastor's child is always held to high expectations. They are expected to be holy, good, like there parents. Sometimes, these standards are not met because the pastor's kid is human just like anyone else and has faults too. If a rabbi's son was held to these high of expectations, this guy just dissolved them all and trampled them. He left his father just like any other person who was just looking out for themselves. I can imagine Elie thinking, "If even a Rabbi's son, who is supposed to be 'perfect', is capable of leaving his own father, how much more am I, who isn't so 'perfect', capable of abandoning my father?"

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  7. After running to another camp, while Elie and his father are resting, Rabbi Eliahu comes through searching for his son. Elie discovers that while running to the new camp the Rabbi was with his son. After awhile the son left him because the Rabbi no longer had enough strength to run. The son had seen him fall behind but kept running making the distance between them greater than ever. He wanted to rid himself of his father because his father was no longer strong enough and he did not want his father to hold him back to where he would be killed. A troubling thought crossed Elies mind. Did the Rabbi's son mean to desert his own father, his own blood, just like that? That was when Elie prayed that he would never do that to his father.

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  8. To get to the next camp quickly, the officers made the prisoners run as fast as they could. If the prisoners stopped or slowed, they were shot. This could also have been an easy and effecient way to kill the Jews. While on the run, the son of Rabbi Eliahu abandoned him. He knew that his father was still alive, but decided to leave him because he was too weak. He thought that his father was holding them back, and he would get them both killed. He selfishly left his father and distanced himself from him, convinced he would be doomed if he stayed. He was glad even, to be rid of his father. Elie knew this because he too wanted to be rid of his father at times. Elie is afraid that one day, his survival instinct will get the better of him, and he will also leave him father. Once hearing of the Rabbi's son, he vows to never abandon his father, and to stay with him at all cost. - Vanessa Gonzalez

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  9. The Rabbi's son abandons his father. During their "death march", the Rabbi loses his strength and struggles to keep up with the rest of the group. Instead of going back and helping his father, the Rabbi's son "[continues] to run on in front, letting the distance between them grow greater" (Wiesel 87). Not once does he look back or even think about helping his father. He felt that if he went back for him he would be carrying a burden that would ultimately slow him down in his pursuit of survival. After reflecting on what he had witnessed, Elie prays to receive the strength to not act as the Rabbi's son. Elie is afraid that he too will give up on everything and only focus on survival. He fears everything he once valued, including his own father, would no longer matter and his main goal would be to survive at all costs. This would mean he would lose all humane thoughts and live life with animal instincts. Nothing would matter except living to see the next morning and Elie does not want to live this way. He wants to hold on to the tiny bit of faith he has left and use it to guide him AND his father along the way.

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  10. His father is all that Elie has left. The bond that they have cultivated throughout their heart wrenching journey became stronger as they endured more. Elie was not only fighting for himself, he was fighting for his father and him. His father is now like another limb of his body, another part of him that he has to keep safe no matter what, a part of him that needs to be saved along with him. Rabbi Eliahu's son on the other hand thinks in quite the opposite way that Elie thinks. All Rabbi Eliahu's son wants to do is to get rid of his father, instead of trying to keep the only relative he has he wants to get rid of him. He tries desperately to throw the burden (his father) off his back. First while they’re running he leaves his father behind in the intension from him to get trampled over, but since that doesn’t work then he deliberately loses his father. These events frighten Elie to his soul, he can’t wrap his mind around such monstrosity. How could someone want to get rid of their father, a person who gives their all to their son? He prays, even though Elie has now lost his faith, that he never turns into such a horrid person, he asks for God to help him get as far away possible from such feelings. He loves his father; he’s the only thing that keeps his sane.
    -Cecilia

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  11. What Rabbi Eliahu's son does to him is something that Elie has feared he might do in the long run. Rabbi Eliahu's son saw that his father was struggling with running the in below freezing weather so he ran ahead and left him behind. Elie witnesses this horrible act of a father and son relationship. At this point, Elie doesn't know what to believe anymore. He doesn't know if he believes in God or anyone else for that matter. I do believe that he still has faith, which is what is keeping him from going crazy throughout the hard times. So Elie, with the little strength and faith that he has left, tries to get himself together to try not to leave his own father behind as he just witnessed. He knows all his father and himself have been through and tries not to break the bond that many at the camp have crushed along the way.

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  12. Rabbi Eliahu's son saw his father running in really cold freezing weather so the son ran ahead and left him behind. Even if Elie and his father had some conflicts he still wanted to have a good relationship with his dad, unseperable, he tried to take his father anywhere so he could survive, he knows he tried but at the end it didn't turn out exactly the way he wanted it to.

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  13. Rabbi Eliahu's son had left his dad during the Death March, wanting to save himself from taking care of his own father. Elie knows it was the wrong thing for Rabbi Eliahu's son to leave his father alone, so when he remembers about it he doesn't want to tell Rabbi Eliahu, who is desperately looking for his son. For that reason, Elie is afraid that he will also think the same way and abandon his father, so at that moment he gives himself a task and a promise. He promises to himself that he will never be like Rabbi Eliahu's son. He promises he will always take care of his father, that he will never leave his father's side.In my opinion, even though Elie and his father were close before going to the concentration camps, going in there tightened their bond. When they went into the camps, they realized that they were very special to one another. Elie and his father always thought about each other, and they were willing to share what they had. That is why I think Elie gives himself the task to take care of his father.

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  14. Elies already lost his faith, dip down his heart he knows that he needs to stay strong. They are running miles with out shoes like bare-foot in cold snow. Elie is always trying to make sure that he reaches the destination with his dad next to him. Even do Elie and his dad had some disagreements Elies still wants him nest to him. Elies trys to take his father to anyplace that is save for his father. I belive that Elie was a good sun, he didn’t left his father die along.

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