Chapter 8
10. describe the complicated relationship between eliezer and his father in this section.

11. compare eliezer’s feelings here to the feelings of stein of antwerp earlier in the book. ultimately, what has changed?

12. the passage where eliezer misrecognizes his father is very symbolic. what does it emphasize, recognizing that eliezer has recently spent so much time with his father?

13. another significant point to consider is the timing of the episode. what happens to eliezer’s father after this episode? what might it suggest?

14. finally, the episode with running man has a religious significance. if the running man is god, what might he represent? remember, what problem with god has eliezer had throughout the novel?

Elie Wiesel and His Father in the Book 'Night'Our users give theirimpressions:Elie and his father were especially close at the death camps. Theywere inseparable, really. They loved each other and would not let that fade andbe separated. They would die for one another if it was necessary. His fatherdied. Elie was a witness to it. He never forgave himself for letting the SS manbeat his father to death since his father was ill and cried for water to feelbetter. Elie's relationship with his father is very close. However, therelationship between Elie and his father, Chlomo, changes throughout the novel.At the beginning of the novel, Elie and his father have a fairly closerelationship, apart from his father's commitments to the community (not havingtime for his kin (family). Even in saying that Elie loved and respected hisfather just as everyone in the community did. But further on in the novel, theydrift further and further apart. At some stage, Elie starts to feel that hisfather is a burden. And at the end Elie has no tears to cry when his fatherfinally dies.