Chattahoochee River
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Ch. 8/9
In these final Chapters Elie describes the physical hardships of moving camps. Although Elie has the will to survive, his father becomes weaker and weaker. What was so shocking to me was that his father held on for so long but died only a few weeks before they were liberated. It's sad to think that if he would have held on a little longer he might have survived. I was also shocked at how anyone would have been able to survive the journey. They were given no food , no water, and we're forced to run twelve miles in the cold. It's hard for me to believe that the Nazi's hoped for any survivors.
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It's so sad that just a few seconds/days/weeks can make the difference between surviving and the end of your life. This concept is applicable in everyday life. Pushing yourself just a little much longer can make such a difference, as Elies father proved. Which is so sad because he had made it through so much and then he just died.
ReplyDeleteI think Elie knew his father was destined to die, and perhaps his father knew it as well. He was old and unfit for such harsh living conditions. I wonder what the story would have been like had his father died earlier. Perhaps his father knew that he was actually the main thing keeping his son alive, and so he tried to carry on as long as he could for his own son's survival.
ReplyDeleteKate, that also upset me. He was so close to seeing themselves "free" although I wonder if he would've thought of it that way because the trauma mightve kept them from feeling that way. I know Elie did not think there was much of a point of life at this point, but I wonder how different he might've felt had his father been alive.
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