How does eliezer describe the barracks

Wiesel breaks conventions of traditional fiction writing in order to tell the truth about historical events. For example, at the beginning of this section, Eliezer is separated from his mother and sister, whom he never sees again. Such a disappearance would probably not happen in a novel, since novels generally are careful about keeping track of all of their characters. Thus, the disappearance of these two characters is a powerful reminder of the necessarily fragmentary nature of memory and memoir.

He shows us only what Eliezer sees and thinks at a given moment—his limited perspective and lack of knowledge make the story all the more terrifying. It is as if the reader is with Eliezer, caught up in the tension and horror of his experience. This kind of narration does not permit more leisurely reflection about events that are not occurring immediately, or not occurring in the vicinity of the narrator.

Night is not meant to offer an extended autobiography of Wiesel. While his two works of autobiography, All Rivers Run to the Sea and And the Sea Is Never Full, do in fact dwell on his sorrow at losing his mother and sister, Night is not intended to be comprehensive.

SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. They are disinfected, made to run naked in the cold, sent to another barracks were they try to sleep standing. Kapos prisoners given power over other prisoners take whatever new shoes they can from the new prisoners. An SS officer tells them that in Auschwitz they must work or they will be sent to the crematory. The Jews are treated like livestock. The Kapos were often convicted criminals who were given power over the other prisoners.

They're reputation was one of brutality. Certain skilled workers are weeded out and the rest are sent to another barracks.

Eliezer's father asks the gypsy deportee in charge of the barracks if he can use the lavatory. The man knocks his father down. Eliezer does not move, and feels guilty, although his father says it doesn't hurt.

In the inhumane, insane world of the camps, neither Eliezer nor his father can protect each other the way a son or father should protect each other.

To do so might invite death for both of them. Under SS guard, Eliezer , his father , and their group of prisoners are marched out of Birkenau to another camp: Auschwitz proper. They pass through an iron gate with a saying above it that reads, Work is liberty. Another translation of the German saying is, "Work will make you free. They are made to shower, are forced to run naked, and arrive at a prison block where a Polish prisoner in charge of them speaks kindly to them.

He tells them to keep faith in life and to be comrades to each other. The prisoners sleep. Eliezer cites few examples of decency from anyone in a position of power, but this is one of them. The next day the prisoners are tattooed on their left arms. Eliezer becomes A In the evening, tens of thousands of prisoners stand for roll call as the SS checks the numbers on their arms.

They get black coffee in the morning, soup at noon, and a piece of bread and something else at night. Eight days go by. Tattoos are one of the notable legacies of the concentration camps that survivors have lived with. The number reinforced the idea that each prisoner was no longer a person.

A relative— Eliezer 's great-uncle from Antwerp—finds Eliezer's father and asks if anyone has heard news of his wife or children, whom he hasn't seen in two years.

Eliezer lies and says his mother heard that they were very well. The man is overjoyed—hope for them is all that keeps him alive.

Conditions in the camp eventually become so harsh that people need some kind of hope to hold onto in order to keep their will to live. He feels that humans Eliezer shares a silent, powerful moment of sadness and understanding with his father.

For Yom Kippur, A few of the feebler ones are written down, but Eliezer is not. However, no one is immediately taken away. Eliezer 's father is among them, as is Akiba Drumer, the singer. His father hurriedly gives Eliezer Christmas and New Year's pass. In January, Eliezer 's foot swells. He goes to see a doctor—a Jew and a fellow prisoner.

The doctor The surgery is successful, and two days later Eliezer hears a rumor that the Red Army is only hours away and that the camp After the war, Eliezer learns that those who stayed in the hospital were liberated by the Russian Army two Eliezer spends the night back in his block. The prisoners are given bread and margarine for At last, Eliezer 's block—Block 57—marches out into the darkness.

Chapter 6. Eliezer tries not to think, tries to keep himself moving mindlessly forward. A Polish youth who'd Each step with Eliezer 's injured foot hurts him terribly. His father, running beside him, keeps him going. It's impossible They pass through a deserted village and finally are allowed to rest in the snow. Eliezer follows his father into a half-collapsed shed. People are sleeping and those sleeping begin to Eliezer says he hasn't seen the rabbi's son. Eliezer then remembers that he has seen the son deliberately abandon his father the rabbi.

Below him in the pile, Eliezer hears the voice of Juliek, the violinist from Buna, crying for mercy. Juliek is worried Someone is playing part of a Beethoven concerto. Eliezer believes it is Juliek, who must somehow have managed to free himself from underneath the The next morning, Eliezer sees Juliek near him, dead, his violin trampled.

On the third day the weak are divided from those who can still walk okay. Eliezer 's father is selected for the weak. Eliezer runs after him, the SS grab Eliezer , and Eliezer 's group is marched out of the camp to a railway, herded onto a long train Chapter 7. The train goes on through the night. When light comes, Eliezer is unable to tell who is alive and who is dead in the car, including When two men try to take his father, Eliezer snaps out of his daze and slaps his father until his father's eyelids begin to When a piece is dropped in his car Eliezer doesn't fight for it, but sees a younger man beat up his own father for A man named Meir Katz saves Eliezer 's life when someone tries to strangle him.

One of the most vigorous men left, Meir Chapter 8. At Buchenwald, Eliezer tries to stay close to his father. Waiting for the showers, people sit and lie Sirens go off and the guards move the prisoners to the blocks. They sleep. When Eliezer wakes, he realizes he went into the blocks without his father.

For a moment he Eliezer spends hours looking for his father and finally finds him, sick with fever. His father Another doctor comes, but this one shouts at the sick and calls them lazy.

Eliezer feels the desire to kill this doctor, but has neither the strength or the courage A week goes by. The head of the block advises Eliezer not to give his rations to his father. The man tells Eliezer that he can't The officer hits him on the head with a truncheon.

Eliezer does not move. His father says his name, " Eliezer ," and begins to have trouble breathing Chapter 9. Eliezer spends another two and a half months at Buchenwald. He is transferred to the children's At first, after the liberation, Eliezer thinks only of eating. Three days later he gets food poisoning and nearly dies. Cite This Page. Home About Story Contact Help. Previous Characters. Eliezer Character Analysis. The prisoners rest in the sun and talk with each other.

In the afternoon they have identification numbers tattooed on their left arms. Eliezer becomes A At dusk there is roll call, and all the prisoners line up in ranks as their numbers are checked. For three weeks the prisoners follow a set routine of morning coffee, soup, roll call, bread, and sleep. Eliezer and his father meet a distant relative, Stein of Antwerp , who wants news of his wife Reizel and his children. Eliezer's father does not recognize the man since he was generally more interested in community matters in his old life, and Eliezer lies to the man, telling him that his family is doing well.

Stein weeps with joy at the news. He continues to visit them for the next few weeks and occasionally brings them extra bread. He is thin and dried up, but he says that he is kept alive by the thought that his family is still alive.

When a transport arrives from Antwerp, however, he discovers the truth about his family, and Eliezer never sees Stein again. In the evenings the prisoners sing Hasidic melodies and discuss religion and God. Akiba Drumer in particular has a beautiful voice and is very devout.

At this point Eliezer stops praying. Although he still believes in God, he now doubts his absolute justice. Eliezer and his father pretend that the rest of the family is still alive in the concentration camp.

After three weeks, all the unskilled laborers left in the camp including Eliezer and his father are rounded up to be transported to another camp. They take a four-hour march to their new home, Buna. In this section, Eliezer and the other prisoners are fully exposed to the horrible inhumanity of the Nazis.

Due to the brutal methods of the Nazis, they are transformed from respected individuals into obedient, animal-like automatons.

How does this transformation take place? When the prisoners first arrive at the camp, some of the young men want to rebel: "We've got to do something. We can't let ourselves be killed. We can't go like beasts to the slaughter. We've got to revolt. Why do they obey people who are so obviously intent on destroying them? The answer to that question is very complex.