Elie lived in a small Jewish community in Sighet, Translavanyia. There he lived with his three sisters and his parents who owned a local shop.

In the first chapter Elie describes his father as a 'rather unsentimental man' and told us of how 'He is more concerned with others than with his own family.' Straight away we learn that Elie and his father were not that close emotionally. Elie's father was one of the leading men in the community and did not approve of Elie reading the Cabbala which formed a barrier of separation between father and son. The first bond between Elie and his father is when they reach the death camp. The first orders they are given is 'Men to the left! Women to the right! Elie did not know at that time he was to be parted from his mother and sisters forever. It is now that Elie and his father start the terrifying journey of life in the camps together. Just after

At the start of the novel Elie and his father didn't have the most perfect relationship, not that they didn't like each other but just how they were never close and both had more important things to do. It wasn't until they reached the camps that you see them bond, as they were there alone and had no other family with them. Throughout the novel you see Elie and his father stick by each other and show there love for each other very clearly. Nothing could come between them. Elie acts more like the father in the story as he copes better with camp life and his father is too old to go through these matters, but he still tries his hardest to stay strong for his son. It is not until the very end that you see there bond breaking. Elie starts to realise that his father is to weak and is not going to make it. He also realises that if he doesn't move on and ends up staying with his father he isn't going to make it either. Even when Elie's father is killed by getting hit by a truncheon, Elie says 'I did not move. I was afraid. My body was afraid of also receiving a blow.' This is at the end of the novel and it shows that now Elie has no feelings for anyone but himself. As he gets told by a SS officer ' Here there are no fathers, no brothers, no friends. Everyone lives and dies for himself alone.' He realises that the officer is right.

the separation Elie sees an old man get hit by an SS officer with his revolver, this makes him realise that it is not going to be easy and he is going to need his father 100 percent. "I had one thought. Not to lose him - Not to be left alone. At all costs we must keep together.' Elie and his father then get questioned by Dr. Mengele a typical SS officer, to see what there professions are. Depending on what you did you either went to the left or the right. Another separation. When Elie gets ordered to move to the left he only takes half a step forward to see where his father is going 'If he went to the right, I would go after him'. This shows how much love Elie has for his father and that he doesn't care which is the good or bad side as long he is with his father.

After a long, hard and painful journey they finally reach their destination, a camp in Buchenwald. When they arrived they got to have a shower and go into their blocks, during this Elie lost sight of his father. He didn't think about him again until the next morning when he awoke, and decided to go and find him, but even at that moment he thought 'Don't let me find him! If only I could get rid of this dead weight, so that I could use all my strength to struggle for my own survival, and only worry about myself!' He also writes, 'Immediately I felt ashamed of myself, ashamed forever.' Elie is now acting like many others has done, and wanting to get rid of his father as he knows that he is not going to be able to survive looking after the both of them. Elie's love and solidarity are stronger forces of

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Approximate Word count = 1955
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)