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Eliezer meets Moishe the Beadle.
Summary: Eliezer meets Moishe the Beadle, and begins studying and exploring the mysteries of the Kabbalah and other Jewish texts under his guidance.
Positive Character Development: This period of time positively affected Eliezer as it strengthened his understanding and devotion to God and his Jewish faith.
Relation to the Theme: This event reflects Eliezer's innocent identity before he was tainted by the horrific experiences he faced in numerous concentration camps. -
Eliezer arrives at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp.
Summary: Upon arriving at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Eliezer and other Jews are inspected. As he observes the atrocities around him, for the first time he angrily questions why he should sanctify God.
Turning Point: This event marks the beginning of Eliezer's religious descent as he begins to question his once unwavering faith in God.
Relation to the Theme: His arrival at camp ties into the theme by representing how his religious faith is put into question in the presence of adversity. -
Eliezer witnesses the tragic hanging of a young pipel at Buna.
Summary: At Buna, Eliezer witnesses the horrific hanging of a pipel who was punished for possessing arms. As the onlookers watch in horror and ask where God is, Eliezer sees his own Lord hanging on the gallows too.
Negative Character Development: This significant event marks the death of Eliezer's faith in God and displays his abandonment of the Lord he once worshipped.
Relation to the Theme: Eliezer's changed mindset and belief that his Lord is dead displays how the harsh camp has molded him. -
Eliezer refuses to fast during Yom Kippur.
Summary: During the high holiday of Yom Kippur, Eliezer chooses to rebel against God by eating instead of observing the tradition of fasting.
Negative Character Development: This event further displays Eliezer's growing hatred for God, as he performs this act of rebellion against the Lord on a key holiday meant for atoning.
Relation to the Theme: This event ties into the theme as it marks Eliezer's prioritization of his own nourishment and needs over strictly following his religious traditions. -
Eliezer abandons his father during an alert at Buchenwald.
Summary: As the sirens go off at Buchenwald, Eliezer forgets his father as he runs for shelter. He later wakes up and briefly thinks of his father as a burden and imagines how easy life would be without him.
Negative Character Development: This event displays how hardship in camp has caused Eliezer's humanity and care for others, like his father, to regress.
Relation to the Theme: This relates to the theme as it displays how Eliezer put his own survival over the survival of his weak father. -
Eliezer receives survival advice from the Blockälteste.
Summary: After observing Eliezer's father's ill condition, the blockälteste tells him that his father will not recover and advises him to not waste his father's rations.
Negative Character Development: This event signifies the negative effect of self-preservation on Eliezer as he briefly considers taking his father's rations so he can survive.
Relation to the Theme: This displays how Eliezer's determined will to survive made him consider stealing from his dying father rather than caring for him. -
Eliezer's father is beaten and dies at Buchenwald.
Summary: Eliezer allows his father to get beaten to death by a Nazi, as he ignores his pleas and calls for help.
Negative Character Development: This displays a dramatic change in Eliezer's character as he ignores his father, to prevent himself from getting beaten by a Nazi as well.
Relation to the Theme: This displays how Eliezer's strong determination to survive caused him to prioritize his own survival and let his father get killed. -
Eliezer looks in a mirror after liberation.
Summary: After liberation, Eliezer looks in a mirror and can no longer recognize who he once was.
Negative Character Development: After the time he spent in camp, Eliezer has lost his identity and innocence to the atrocities of war.
Relation to the Theme: Because he can no longer recognize himself after all he's faced during the war, this ties into the theme that self-preservation and adversity can change a person as these hardships molded him into what he sees in his new, current reflection. -
Overall Theme of Night
In times of adversity, self-preservation can kill a person's identity and humanity.
