What is one way Elie Wiesel escaped from becoming a brute in Night?

The biggest way in which Elie retained his humanity was through his treatment of his father throughout their shared time in the concentration camp.  While Elie laments times when he permitted his father to be beaten, or when he got angry with his father for things beyond his father's control, Elie does not betray his father throughout the text.  

This example lies in sharp contrast to other father/son relationships.  For example, late in the...

The biggest way in which Elie retained his humanity was through his treatment of his father throughout their shared time in the concentration camp.  While Elie laments times when he permitted his father to be beaten, or when he got angry with his father for things beyond his father's control, Elie does not betray his father throughout the text.  

This example lies in sharp contrast to other father/son relationships.  For example, late in the book when the men are running to the next camp, Rabbi Eliahou's son purposely loses his father in the crowd, as he realizes that his father cannot keep up.  In other instances, we see even more drastic action.  When food is thrown onto their train car, one father takes and hides some of the bread to give to his son, Meir.  The son, misunderstanding the action, beats his father to death to take the bread.  He, in turn, is beaten as well.  That Elie does not stoop to either level in the text permits him to retain an important piece of his humanity.