Elie Wiesel's Contemplation of Whether or Not to Abandon His Father in an Effort to Survive

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Elie Wiesel’s Contemplation of Whether or Not to Abandon His Father in an Effort to Survive “AUTHOR, TEACHER, WITNESS” These three words, inscribed on the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal awarded to Elie Wiesel in 1985, offer an appropriate summarization of the important societal roles he has been cast in. Granted “in recognition of his humanitarian efforts and outstanding contributions to world literature and human rights” (Kanfer), the Gold Medal is only one of the many honors conferred upon Mr. Wiesel in appreciation for his life’s work. His most notable accolade, the Nobel Peace Prize, was humbly accepted in 1986. With the proceeds from his prize, Elie and his wife Marion endowed the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, an organization whose mission is “to combat indifference, intolerance, and injustice through international dialogue and youth-focused programs that promote acceptance, understanding and equality” (The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity). Wiesel seeks to sate his “insatiable desire to rouse humanity from its self-concern” (Kanfer) by promoting awareness of the innumerable injustices suffered throughout the world. With over fifty books to his credit, Wiesel’s work often explores themes of “helplessness and humiliation in the face of evil, countered ultimately with hope” (Sheridan). He writes about the abstract of childhood, both his own and others (Wiesel, “Elie Wiesel Interview). In his essay “Life Writing in the Shadow of the Shoah”, Bertram Cohler explores the dynamic father-son relationship theme regularly employed by Wiesel in his writing, in the context of its acute illustration in Night. Other subject matters apparent in many of his books include those concerning Hasidism, Israel, the Shoah, the Bible, and the Talmud (Berman 34). Often referred to as “the voice of the 6 million killed in the ‘Final Solution’” (Kanfer), Wiesel offers his

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