"My father wouldn't hear of it. He told me and my big

sisters, "If you wish, go there. I shall stay here with your mother

and the little one…

Naturally, we refused to be separated." (20)

This moment connects to the theme of Family Loyalty & Obligations, showing that he has a strong bond with his family. At this moment, Eliezer realizes that he has to make a decision if to stay with his family or leave as his dad would stay with his mother and the others.

"She was pointing somewhere in the distance, always the same

place. No one felt like beating her anymore. The heat, the thirst,

the stench, the lack of air, were suffocating us. Yet all that was

nothing compared to her screams, which tore us apart. A few more

days and all of us would have started to scream." (26)

This event shows Eliezer that separation of relatives took a heavy toll on some people. This event also took a toll on his sanity, as throughout the chapter, people couldn't bear the screaming although "No one felt like beating her anymore. The heat, the thirst."

His name be exalted and sanct ified…" (34)

"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that

turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.

Never shall I forget that smoke.

Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bod-

ies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.

Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith for-

ever.

Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for

all eternity of the desire to live.

Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God

and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.

Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to

live as long as God Himself.

Never. (34)

Eliezer's is broken, as in those moments, murdered his god and his soul as his dreams turned to ashes. His struggle with religious faith is shown as he shall never forget what he saw, even if he were "condemned to live as long as God Himself."

"Behind me, I heard the same man asking:

"For God's sake, where is God?"

And from within me, I heard a voice answer:

"Where He is? This is where—hanging here from this gal-

lows… "

That night, the soup tasted of corpses." (65)

Eliezer's line of the soup tasting of corpses shows his despair. He saw a dying boy and couldn't prevent it as he was forced to see and hear him. The individual survival vs. The collective good is shown here as they knew they would get in trouble if they prevented a wrongful execution.

"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 the furnaces? Praised be Thy

Holy Name, for having chosen us to be slaughtered on Thine

altar?"

The struggle with his religious faith is shown here as Eliezer develops into a rebel of his faith he loved so much. This moment is significant because he complains about how he is treated to his god. He asks and questions why he should praise him if god let him go through all of this.

"It was good that I had forgotten all that. And I was glad that

Rabbi Eliahu continued to search for his beloved son.

And in spite of myself, a prayer formed inside me, a prayer to

this God in whom I no longer believed.

"Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never

to do what Rabbi Eliahu's son has done."'

With a god he no longer believed in, he prayed so he can never leave his father. This shows a part of Family loyalty and his struggle with religious faith. Eliezer wants to muster up strength to never leave his father, even if it's to pray to a god he rebelled against. This shows a deep connection between Eliezer and his father.

"I witnessed a similar spectacle in Aden. Our ship's

passengers amused themselves by throwing coins to the "na-

tives," who dove to retrieve them. An elegant Parisian lady took

great pleasure in this game. When I noticed two children desper-

ately fighting in the water, one trying to strangle the other, I im-

plored the lady:

"Please, don't throw any more coins!"

"Why not?" said she. "I like to give cha r i t y…""

This moment connects to the theme of individual survival vs the collective good because of the people fighting over bread as it was their life. The similar event years later shows Eliezer stopping a Parisian lady tossing coins to children, as it most likely reminded him of his past on the cart where is was for individual survival, only Eliezer helping his father.

"I gave him what was left of my soup. But my heart was heavy.

I was aware that I was doing it grudgingly.

Just like Rabbi Eliahu's son, I had not passed the test."

Eliezer started to do things in a reluctant manner for his family. This moment is significant because it shows a different personality of Eliezer than how we saw him in the first chapter. He showed a change in personality from being a loyal son to his father to being resentful of his father.

"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."

Eliezer had no thought of revenge because all he wanted to do was to full fill his hunger and noting else. Although this summary sounds basic, this moment is significant because Eliezer didn't think of his parents and was free from his torment as it changed him from not giving a care about revenge, faith, or his father.