“The Last Word of the Invalid”

I choose the title "The Last Word of the Invalid", because it really connects to the important, yet sad happening in this chapter of the memoir. My title works for this chapter because it gives the reader an insight to what might happen. Usually a reader thinks of a death when they see the "Last word”. And that is exactly how the title I have given to my chapter gives an insight to the events about to be known.

Eliezer and his father have finally reached at their final destination, but Eliezer’s father is terribly ill, and the chances of survival are the minimum. Eliezer knows that his father can no longer go on, but he still battles with his conscience in order to not abandon his father. With this Elie’s father seems to be constantly abused by his neighbors making him grow even weaker day by day. One day right after roll call Eliezer decides to stay with his father as an “invalid”, and his father keeps calling his name for water due to his high fever. Because of this Elie’s father receives a blow from the officer but he still continues to call Elie’s name, “His last word was my name” (Wiesel 106).After Elie’s father’s death in the crematory Elie says “I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I had no more tears” (Wiesel 106), this quote means that Elie was overwhelmed with sadness to a point where he wanted to burst into tears but he did not have any strength left for doing so, which caused him even more pain. This quote links to the title “The Last Word of the Invalid”, because the last word of the invalid was the last word of Elie’s father, and the last word was the last thing Elie ever heard of his father, and the last word was only the beginning of Elie’s sorrow to the death of his father.