When Elie and his father are first transferred to the concentration camp, they live for each other, risking their lives to stay together and to ensure may the other survive another day. But ultimately, it's the desire to survive that ultimately tears their relationship apart. At the beginning of the novel, Elie would do anything to make sure that he could stay with his father and that they could both survive, and his father would do the same for him. They shared food when one needed it more than the other and made sacrifices for each other. “My father had a present for me… a half ration of bread.” As time passed, they became weaker and more desperate to survive, their relationship began to suffer. Towards the end of the novel, Elie's father began to become very ill, causing Elie to have to take care of him. It is this additional stress that makes Elie believe that he would be better off without his father. “….a thought crept into my mind…. If only I were relieved of this responsibility, I could use all my strength to fight for my own survival, to take care of only myself. After realizing this and hearing those around him, Elie no longer cares about his father, ignoring his requests for water and allowing himself to be beaten. When his father dies, Elie realizes that he is "finally free" and no longer has the responsibility of ensuring that his father