Night

What advice does the Blockalteste give to Eliezer? How does Eliezer respond to the advice? What do we learn about Eliezer through this exchange?

It is advised to Eliezer to fend for himself and himself only, everyman for himself in these camps. I know that for a slpit second he actually considers leaving his father to fend for himself but then he goes back to helping his father. Is he losing hope that his father will make it through the end?

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The blockalteste advised Elie to survive, to only look out for himself and no other. He tells him that in the concentration camps, it is every man for himself and that ties of family and friendship no longer count. He advises him not to give his food rations to his father and to instead his father's for himself. For a moment Eliezer agrees with him, but then immediately feels guilty.

Eliezer's father begs repeatedly for water. At night he calls out in the silence for water, and the SS guards shout at him to be quiet. When he keeps calling out to Eliezer, the guard hits him violently on the head with his truncheon. Eliezer is afraid to move from his bunk. His father once again says, "Eliezer," and is still breathing. After roll call, he gazes at his father's face for over an hour. When it is time to go to bed, his father is still alive. The next day, January 29, 1945, his father has been replaced by another invalid and taken to the crematory. Eliezer does not weep because he no longer has any more tears. And he admits that deep down inside himself, he feels freed by his father's death.

Source(s)

http://www.gradesaver.com/night/study-guide/section8/