includes numerous
individuals who help each other through their darkest hours. Although the youngloses his faith
while imprisoned, he helps his fellow prisoners and receives assistance from them. He is
particularly concerned about his father, as they are together in Auschwitz; having his last
remaining family member to be concerned about keeps going. Writing in the first person, the
adult Elie as an author helps the reader feel the immediacy of an individual experience and
connect them to the reality of an almost unimaginable situation. Wiesel goes out of his way to
bring up specific occasions when people were kind to each other. One example occurs after Idek,
the deranged Kapo, has beaten him ferociously. A French girl that Elie barely knows approaches
him.
I ached all over. I felt a cool hand wiping my
blood-stained forehead. It was the French girl. She gave me her mournful smile and slipped a bit
of bread into my hand. She looked into my eyes. I felt that she wanted to say something but was
choked by fear. For a long moment she stayed like that, then her face cleared and she said to me
in almost perfect German:Bite your lip, little brother . . . Dont cry.
Keep your anger and hatred for another day, for later on. The day will come, but not now. . . .
Wait. Grit your teeth and wait.
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