Eliezer Character Timeline by MELANNY PAXTOR

1. Moishe The Beadle Comes Back To warn The Jews

mpaxtor0012 — 2024-10-15 17:33:14 UTC

"And why do you pray, Moishe?' I asked him. 'I pray to the God within me for the strength for the strength to ask Him the real questions.' We spoke that way almost every evening, remaining in the synagogue long after all the faithful had gone, sitting in the semi darkness where only a few half-burnt candles provided a flickering light. " (Wiesel 5)

At this point in the chapter, Eliezer and Moishe The Beadle are at the synagogue having a conversation about their faith and religion.

This moment is significant because it highlight how religious Eliezer was before the Holocaust. This moment is important because Moishe The Beadle was a mentor for Eliezer, and the conversations that they had really helped Eliezer with his faith.

9. Eliezer Becomes A Free Man

mpaxtor0012 — 2024-11-08 18:48:29 UTC

"At six o'clock that afternoon, the first American tank stood at the gates of Buchenwald. Our First Act As Free Men was to throw ourselves onto the provisions. That's all we thought about. No thought of revenge, or of parents. Only of bread. And even when we were no longer hungry, not one of us thought of revenge. The next day, a few of the young men ran into Weimar to bring back some potatoes and clothes-and to sleep with girls. But still no trace of revenge. Three days after the liberation of Buchenwald, I became very ill: some form of poisoning. I was transferred to a hospital and spent two weeks between life and death. 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." (Wiesel 115)

At this point in the chapter Eliezer was freed from the camp after many months, when he was freed the only thing he could think of was food, he didn't think about his parents or revenge, just food, but Eliezer then fell sick and was in the hospital for 2 weeks and during those two weeks he saw himself in the mirror for the first time.

This is significant because it was the day Eliezer was free from the suffering in the camp after many months. This moment is important because it was also the first time he looked in the mirror and saw his reflection after a long time.

2. Mrs Schachter Screams In the Cattle Car

mpaxtor0012 — 2024-11-08 19:29:04 UTC

"On the third night, as we were sleeping, some of us sitting, huddled against each other, some of us standing, a piercing cry broke the silence: 'Fire! I see a fire! I see a fire!' The was a moment of panic. Who had screamed? It was Mrs Schachter. Standing in the middle of the car, in the faint light filtering through the windows, she looked like a withered tree in a field of wheat. She was howling, pointing through the window : 'Look! Look at this fire! This terrible fire! Have mercy on me!' Some pressed against the bars to see. There was nothing." (Wiesel 24, 25)

While Eliezer and the others were in the cattle car they hear a piercing scream that startles them, when they went to see who it was they find out that the person who yelled was a women named Mrs Schachter, she claims to see a fire but when they went to check there was nothing.

I think this moment is important because while many people thought Mrs Schachter was crazy and hallucinating she was actually foreshadowing what was to come at the camp.

Another reason why I believe this is important is because at the time they didn't realize but Mrs Schachter was warning them about a fire.

3. Eliezer Sees People Being Burned Alive

mpaxtor0012 — 2024-11-21 07:04:48 UTC

"Not far from us, flames, huge flames, were rising from a ditch. Something was being burned there. A truck drew close and unloaded its hold: small children. Babies! Yes, I did see this, with my own eyes . . Children thrown into the flames." (Wiesel 32)

After Eliezer and his family arrive at the camp they are separated into groups, once they get into the groups Eliezer spots a ditch where they were burning people alive.

This moment Eliezer realizes how cruel and horrible the people at the camp were being treated. This moment connects to the theme of state sponsored violence, showing how the people were being treated at the camps.

4. Eliezer Witnesses His Father Get Beat

mpaxtor0012 — 2024-12-02 06:32:24 UTC

"Idek was on edge, he had trouble restraining himself. Suddenly, he exploded. The victim this time was my father. "You old loafer!" he started yelling. "Is this what you call working?" And he began beating him with an iron bar. At first, my father simply doubled over under the blows, but then he seemed to break in two like an old tree struck by lightning. I had watched it all happening without moving. I kept silent. In fact, I thought of stealing away in order not to suffer the blows. What's more, if I felt anger at that moment, it was not directed at the Kapo but at my father." (Wiesel 54)

One day while Eliezer and the others were working he suddenly heard yelling, it was coming from the Kapo. The Kapo was yelling at Eliezer's father, the Kapo then suddenly started to beat Eliezer's father, at that moment Eliezer felt anger towards his father for not avoiding the Kapo's wrath.

This moment shows that Eliezer is starting to care about his own survival rather than him caring about both him and his father, he started to view his father as a burden. At this moment, Eliezer realizes what being in the camp has turned him into.

5. Eliezer Question His Faith

mpaxtor0012 — 2024-12-02 07:46:12 UTC

"Blessed be God's name . . .' Thousands of lips repeated the benediction, bent over like trees in a storm. Blessed be God's name? Why, but why would I bless him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves? Because He kept six crematoria working day and night, including Sabbath and the Holy days? Because in His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death? How could I say to Him: Blessed be Thou, Almighty, Master of the Universe, who chose us among all nations to be tortured day and night, to watch as our fathers, our mothers, our brothers end up in furnaces? Praised be Thy Holy Name, for having chosen us to be slaughtered on Thine altar?" (Wiesel 67)

In this quote Eliezer starts to question his faith, he asks himself why he should bless God's name after all the suffering he caused.

This moment is significant because it shows Eliezer struggling to keep his faith in God. This event highlights Eleizer’s development from a very religious person to him questioning and loosing his faith.

6. The March To Gleiwitz

mpaxtor0012 — 2024-12-02 08:26:31 UTC

"The idea of dying, of ceasing to be, began to fascinate me. To no longer exist. To no longer feel the excruciating pain of my foot. To no longer feel anything, neither fatigue nor cold, nothing. To break rank, to let myself slide to the side of the road . . . My father's presence was the only thing that stopped me. He was running next to me, out of breath, out of strength, desperate. I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support ." (Wiesel 86-87)

While Eliezer and the others were on the march to Gleiwitz Eliezer started to feel very tired and started to consider stopping, but he thought of his father and how he would feel, so he kept on marching.

This moment connects to the theme of family loyalty, showing that Eliezer wanted to stay loyal to his father even if it meant he had to suffer. This moment shows that Eliezer is not only thinking about himself but also his father.

7. Eliezer Struggles To Wake Up His Father

mpaxtor0012 — 2024-12-04 22:48:35 UTC

"I woke up from my apathy only when two men approached my father. I threw myself on his body. He was cold. I slapped him. I rubbed his hands crying, crying: 'Father! Father! Wake up. They're going to throw you out side . . .' His body remained inert. The two 'gravediggers' had grabbed me by my neck: 'Leave him alone. Can't you see that he's dead?' 'No!' I yelled. 'He's not dead! Not yet!' And I started to hit him harder and harder. At last, my father half opened his eyes. They were glassy. He was breathing faintly. 'You see,' I cried. The two men went away."

(Wiesel 99)

While on the way to the camp Eliezer and his father were sleeping, until the grave diggers came in and started to unload the dead, they thought that Eliezer's father was dead and as they were going to throw him out Eliezer jumped in and tried to wake up his father until he finally woke up.

This moment is significant because Eliezer decided to not let his father be thrown off even though he started to see him as a bit of a burden. This moment shows that Eliezer still cared about his father and he didn't want to lose him.

8. Eliezer's Fathers Death

mpaxtor0012 — 2024-12-04 22:59:37 UTC

"I woke up at dawn on January 29. On my father's cot there lay another sick person. They must have taken him away before day break and taken him to the crematorium. Perhaps he was still breathing . . . No prayers were said over his tomb. No candle lit in his memory. His last word had been my name. He had called out to me and I had not answered. I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last! . . ."

(Wiesel 112)

On the morning of January 29 Eliezer woke up to his father gone, another sick person took his place on the cot but Eliezer didn't weep he couldn't weep.

This moment is important because it was the moment where Eliezer lost his only family in the camp. This moment Eliezer realizes that he cant cry for the death of his father, he had no tears left.