-
Religious
"Why do you pray?" he asked after a moment. Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?" (p.4). This quote justifies that Elie is religious because it shows that Elie is committed to his beliefs and religion (Judaism). His relationship with Moishe the Beadle also helps Elie dive deeper into his beliefs. -
Elie's Relationship with Moishe the Beadle
"And Moishe the Beadle, the poorest of the poor of Sighet, spoke to me for hours on end about the Kabbalah's revelations and its mysteries...And in the course of those evenings I became convinced that Moishe the Beadle would help me enter eternity, into that time when question and answer would become one." (p.5) This quote conveys how Elie's relationship with Moishe the Beadle is portrayed. It shows that the more time Elie spends with Moishe, Elie's curiosity is answered by Moishe. -
Sentimental
"We were ready. I went out first. I did not want to look at my parent's faces. I did not want to break into tears...I looked at my house in which I had spent years seeking my God, fasting to hasten the coming of the Messiah, imagining what my life would be like later. Yet I felt sadness." (p.19). Elie reveals himself to be a sentimental boy: he cries when he prays but also feels sentimental after being deported from his country and transitioning into this new "lifestyle". -
Relationship with God
"Some of the men spoke of God: His mysterious ways, the sins of the Jewish people, and the redemption to come. As for me, I ceased to pray. I concurred with Job! I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice." p. 45 Elie starts to doubt if he was set up by God to go through this. He feels ungrateful that he's going through this and acted upon it by not praying to his once glorified supreme being. -
Fending for Himself
"I felt no pity for him. In fact, I was pleased with what was happening to him: my gold crown was safe. It could be useful to me one day, to buy something, some bread or even time to live." (p.52) Elie starts to fend for himself by lying to the Kapos by defending his gold crown. Although he feels futile, he's grateful that he has food and his gold crown with him. -
Hopeless
"What's more, if I felt anger at that moment, it was not directed at the Kapo but at my father. Why couldn't he have avoided Idek's wrath? That was what life in a concentration camp had made of me..." p.54 Reflects how hard life was in a concentration camp; seeing family members tortured and feeling remorseful for them that they start to feel the torment. -
Others Effects on Elie
"I watched other hangings. I never saw a single victim weep. These withered bodies had long forgotten the bitter taste of tears." Elie feels emotionless and understands the hardships faced during that time. -
Thoughts on Death
"I soon forgot him. I began to think of myself again. My foot was aching, I shivered with every step. Just a few more meters and it will be over. I'll fall, A small red flame...A shot...Death enveloped me, it suffocated me." pg.86 Elie feels frail as he marches along, almost to a point that he believed that he was about to die. -
Agony and Silence
"Among the stiffened corpses, there were logs of wood. Not a sound of distress, not a plaintive cry, nothing but mass agony and silence. Nobody asked anyone for help...I saw myself in every stiffened corpse. Soon I wouldn't;t even be seeing them anymore; I would be one of them. A matter of hours." pg 89 Again, Elie has thoughts on death after a profound moment of looking at the corpses with his dad. He pictures himself as one of them because he already feels as if he was about to die. -
Elie's Trauma
"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.” p.34 This quote reflects Elie's trauma because it unfolds his memories of his time at the concentration camps to show the reader how he felt. -
Shock & Remorse
"I stood petrified. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked. I had watched and kept silent. Only yesterday, I would have dug my nails into this criminal's flesh. Had I changed that much? So fast? Remorse began to gnaw at me. All I could think was: I shall never forgive them for this." p. 39 This left him in shock and remorse because they beat up his father, whom he's never before seen as vulnerable. -
Frustration against God
"I did not fast. First of all, to please my father who had forbidden me to do so. And then, there was no longer any reason for me to fast. I no longer accepted God's silence. As I swallowed my ration of soup, I turned that act into a symbol of rebellion, of protest against him." pg.69 Elie has shown frustration against God compared to the beginning in the book, he realizes he's losing faith after the hardships faced and speak his mind on it. -
Respect for his Dad
"I knew that he must not drink. But he pleaded with me so long that I gave in. Water was the worst poison for him, but what else could I do for him? With or without water, it would be over soon anyways. "You, at least, have pity on me..." Have pity on him! I, his only son..." p.110 Throughout this period Elie helps his father regain his strength and has stayed by his side as his father got weaker until he passed. -
Scarring Salvation
"One day when I was able to get up, I decided to look at myself in the mirror on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me." p.115 After being freed and rescued, Elie finally reflects the brutality he faced during the war and ends the book with a haunting comment imagining what would've it felt like dying and the distress when he was a prisoner in the camps.
You are not authorized to access this page.