Elie proclaims, "The commandant announced that we had already covered 42 miles since we left. It was a long time since we had passed beyond the limits of fatigue. Our legs were moving mechanically, in spite of us, without us" (Weisel 83). Elie was running with the rest of the Jews on one of the punishment runs to try to kill them. Elie was running with his dad and his family and friends. All the running had made them feel like they were flying because they couldn't feel their legs any longer because they had ran such a long distance. When Elie could've just quit and stop running he continued to run. He used his dad to give his hope to live so he could get out with his dad in the end. "I woke from my apathy just at the moment when two men came up to my father. I threw myself on top of his body. He was cold. I slapped him. I rubbed his hand, crying: Father! Father! Wake up. They're trying to throw you out of the carriage … His body remained inert … I set to work to slap him as hard as I could. After a moment, my father's eyelids moved slightly over his glazed eyes. He was breathing weakly. You see, I cried.
The two men moved away." (94) Elie wanted to use his perseverance to live to get his father to continue to live. He tried to use his strength to help his dad live. He covered his dad when they were transporting the dead bodies to a dump or furnace. People need perseverance to get through tough times because without the perseverance people have nothing to use to get through. It is the last piece of the puzzle. One can use hope to get through a tough time but that hope just encourages the perseverance and that is what using the hope to get through a tough time