Quote 1
My father's voice tore me from my daydreams:
"What a shame, a shame that you did not go with your mother … I saw many children your age go with their mothers …"
His voice was terribly sad. I understood that he did not wish to see what they would to do to me. He did not wish to see his only son go up in flames. (3.55-57)
The presence of family isn’t always a source of happiness or relief; for Eliezer’s father, staying with his son means additional suffering – he will have to witness his son’s pain.
Quote 2
"My son, they are beating me!"
"Who?" I thought he was delirious.
"Him, the Frenchman … and the Pole … They beat me …"
One more stab to the heart, one more reason to hate. One less reason to live.
"Eliezer … Eliezer … tell them not to beat me … I haven’t done anything … Why are they beating me?"
I began to insult his neighbors. They mocked me. I promised them bread, soup. They laughed. Then they got angry; they could not stand my father any longer, they said, because he no longer was able to drag himself outside to relieve himself. (8.66-71)
Eliezer’s father’s fellow prisoners use violence against him for no good reason. They are annoyed with him in his ill and decrepit state and therefore abuse him.
Quote 3
All around me, there was silence now, broken only by moaning. In front of the block, the SS were giving orders. An officer passed between the bunks. My father was pleading:
"My son, water … I’m burning up … My insides …"
[…]
The officer came closer and shouted to him to be silent. But my father did not hear. He continued to call me. The officer wielded his club and dealt him a violent blow to the head. (8.92-96)
The SS officer beats Eliezer’s harmless and ill father simply because he is annoyed that Eliezer’s father isn’t silent. Damage from the blow eventually kills Eliezer’s father. This is yet another powerful and horrifying example of senseless, cruel violence.