"I shall never forgive myself. Nor shall I ever forgive the world for having pushed me against the wall, for having turned me into a stranger, for having awakened in me the basest, most primitive instincts. His last word had been my name. A summons. And I had not responded" (10).
The entire book was about how the holocaust changed Elie Wiesel, and this quote embodied that change clearly. Eliezer lost everything: his faith, his hope, his innocence, his family and his humanity. He and his father had stuck together through the entire experience, but when it came down to saving his father's life or his own, he chose not to defend his father. This quote summarizes everything that he lost. The world had let him down and turned him into an entirely different person who would choose his own life over a loved one's.
The entire book was about how the holocaust changed Elie Wiesel, and this quote embodied that change clearly. Eliezer lost everything: his faith, his hope, his innocence, his family and his humanity. He and his father had stuck together through the entire experience, but when it came down to saving his father's life or his own, he chose not to defend his father. This quote summarizes everything that he lost. The world had let him down and turned him into an entirely different person who would choose his own life over a loved one's.