Chapter Eight

In chapter eight, once Elie and his father are at Buchenwald, they try to go take a hot shower, but there are alot of prisoners crowding the baths. His father says he’s tired, so he lays in the snow and tells Elie to wake him when it’s their turn, but Elie doesnt let his father rest because the ground is covered in corpses who died by lying down like his father. Then, they are sent to sleep, but when Elie wakes up, he realizes he lost his dad. For a moment Elie wishes his father was dead so he would only have to care for himself, but then he feels bad about it and starts searching for his dad. While searching he stops and prays that he wont find his dad, but he feels bad, and starts searching again. He finally finds his father where they are giving out coffee, but he’s burning with fever and wants some coffee.

 Elie brings him some coffee and later gives him some of his soup. Elie keeps him alive for days, but his father has dysentery. Elie no longer thinks his dad will survive. He takes his father to the doctor, but is turned down because the doctor is a surgeon who is not concerned with dysentery. Later, the men in the bunk next door hit Elie’s dad when Elie is out. So he tries threatening them, and even promises them soup and bread if they leave his dad alone, but they laugh at him. The block leader tells Elie he should stop taking care of his father because its every man for themselves in the concentration camps, but he feels guilty for considering this. Then an SS officer hears Elie’s father moaning, and the SS delivers a blow to his head. Elie stays awake with his dying father for a while but eventually, goes to bed. In the morning, Elie's father’s body is gone, and Elie hopes that his father wasn’t taken to the crematorium before he was dead. Elie cannot cry, which disturbs him, but he knows that that deep down he feels free at last. This chapter is particularly sad, with the death of Elie's father. It shows how easily someone can die and be taken from you at these concentration camps.

Heres a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9jSzB-C5fOw