Chapter 6- Death

This chapter really stood out to me because it highlighted Weisel's relationship with death and his relationship with his father, and how those two relationships were interconnected. In the beginning of the chapter he discussed how his father was the only reason that he was still trying to stay alive because he "...had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support." He is able to contrast his relationship with his father to the relationship of Rabbi Eliahu and his son. Weisel theorizes that Rabbi Eliahu's son purposely abandons him in order to have a better chance at surviving on his own, and Weisel mentions all the "Sons abandoned the remains of their fathers without a tear" which symbolizes all the men that became so overcome with the thirst to live that the would turn leaving their fathers to die in the snow. This is a direct juxapostion to Weisel because as he is elaborating all the ways the he is constantly brushing death, like the freezing conditions or almost being suffocated by the pressure of death corpses on his back, he is constantly reminding himself he needs to live to also keep his father alive.