Night by Elie Wisel and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck are both books that have differences and similarities in the relationships of their main characters. These characters are Elie and his father, which are two Jews trapped in a concentration camp for the book Night. The other book Of Mice and Men includes two other characters, who are Lennie and George. These two characters have very close friendship, and take care of each other. These two relationships differ and coincide, in how they treat each other, and in how they care for one another even when they don’t have to. The relationships of the characters in both books are both fairly close, but still face many hardships along the way. As in all books the characters have a story for these characters in these two books they have one as well. In the book Night Elie is a very religious boy that lived with both of his parents and three sisters. At this time the Nazis were capturing people of the Jewish religion, unfortunately Elie and his family were one of them.
They were all taken to concentration camps in many cities such as Auschwitz, here many families were separated. On the other hand, in Of Mice and Men two best friends are in search of jobs, therefore they could purchase the house of their dreams. In addition, one of them is called George and the other is called Lennie, who both watch over one another’s backs. The stories of the characters’ pasts are what will affect the differences and similarities of the relationships in both novels. Even though the relationship of Elie and his father and the relationship of George and Lennie might seem to differ greatly at first they both have many similarities. For example, one way is that Elie, his father, and George and Lennie have a relationship like father and son because of the way they watch over each other. This is true because in Of Mice and Men George always scolds Lennie because of the things he does, such as when he grabs the rat because it is “soft”, and George says “Well, you aren’t petting any mice while you walk with me.” This shows that George was there to take care of Lennie even if he did something wrong, such as petting a mouse. That quote relates to Elie and his father’s relationship by showing that they had a relationship almost like a father and son would have, of love and watching over one another. Meanwhile, in Night Elie and his father have a father and son relationship of mutual care. For instance, in chapter 3 when Elie’s father is beaten up for the first time he feels a sense of failure and remorse, and feels as if he should do something , but can’t do anything of the sort. In this chapter Elie says something associated with this, he says “I stood petrified. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck in front of me, and I had not even blinked.”, when his father is beaten to show that he cares for his father as a son would. This quote relates to the relationship of Lennie and George because it shows how they care for one another.
Also, Elie’s father gives Elie his most valuable possession on the concentration camp, a spoon and knife which one day would be useful to him, when his father presumes that he will be selected to be killed. Moreover, the similarity in the relationships of these characters is shown by how they feel each other as burden, such as how George and Elie feel. One example of this is when, Elie states “I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last…!” to show that when his father died he was doing him a favor because there was no extra responsibility or burden to Elie. This quotation relates to the relationship of George and Lennie is by showing that even though they care for one another they still think of the most vulnerable person in the relationship as a burden. Furthermore, a similar act toke place in Of Mice and Men when George kills Lennie because he is tired of Lennie killing things unconsciously. A quotation from this novel of this is when Slim said “You had to George, I swear you had to” just after the murder place. The quote relates to the relationship of Elie and his father by showing how they both felt the same burden about others. Lastly, another similarity between the relationships is how close they are throughout the novels. For example, one way is as mentioned earlier, they care for each other by feeling remorse when something happens to them such as in Night or when they do something that might put them in danger or make them ill.
An example is when George says “Lennie for God’ sakes don’t drink so much.”This relates to Elie and his father by showing us how they cared for each other’s health. All of this shows that even if characters are from different novels there are still many qualities in their relationships that coincide.The relationship between Elie and his father, and the relationship between George and Lennie differed in many aspects. One example, of this is that George and Lennie from the novel Of Mice and Men had a relationship of “tough love” even though they cared for each other, compared to Elie and his father which still loved each other but were not so harsh on each other. For instance, George always would say “I would be better off without you Lennie.” Even though he was tough on him George still cared for him. This quote relates to Elie and his dad because it explains how this made their relationships differ. On the other hand, Elie and his father looked after one another, but were not so tough like George was with Lennie. For example, Elie actually showed he cared about his father more than George did. A quote from Night that shows this is when he says “For a ration of bread I was able to exchange cots to be next to my father.”Consequently, this showed that he would give up, even his most valuable procession in the camp, which is food to be next to his father. This quote relates to Lennie and George because it shows how different their relationships can be. Moreover, another detail that proves how both Elie and his dad showed more care for each other than in Of Mice and Men is when Elie’s father gives his ration of bread to Elie even when Elie already ate his portion of bread. Additionally, another difference between these two relationships is how they treated one another.
For instance, George sometimes insulted Lennie, like when George told Lennie “If I was a relative of yours I’d shoot myself “. This quote would relate to the relationship of Elie and his father by showing how differently they treated each other compared to their relationship. Meanwhile, Elie and his father did not insult each other much, instead if they were beaten up or insulted they would feel a sense of remorse inside them. One example of this is when Elie says “I stood petrified”, when his father is beaten up. This quote relates to the other relationship because it reveals how differently they felt about many things. This all comes to show that how these two relationships differed greatly.As you can see, the relationship between Elie and his father and the relationship between Lennie and George differed and coincided in many aspects. Even though Lennie, George, Elie, and his father had totally differently stories about their pasts, they still shared many things in common. For example, in both relationships they cared for each other even when they did not necessarily have to take care of each other. Furthermore, another example for how the relationships differed is how they treated each other differently in each relationship, such as insulting each other etc.
Although, in both relationships they cared for each other as family or friends they still had their differences like everyone else. This all comes to show that the relationship between Elie and his father and the one between Lennie and George differed even when they coincided in many ways
