How did the prisones respond? how did elie save his father's life?

"Eliezer is continually amazed at how inhumane and beastlike the prisoners can become. Every time that he thinks he and the prisoners have suffered as much pain as they can bear and have behaved as cruelly as possible to one another, the Nazis lead them to behave even more basely and without human respect. The episode where German workmen throw bread into the train demonstrates that the prisoners are maniacally focused on getting food, at the expense of even their closest relations. They have become predatory animals: "Wild beasts of prey, with animal hatred in their eyes; an extraordinary vitality had seized them, sharpening their teeth and nails." Having been starved for ten days, the prisoners are willing to kill each other for bread. A young man even kills his father for a piece of bread. In this world there is no morality, but neither is there a need for the prisoners to live by any standard of morality. For they are no longer living in a world of social responsibility and respectability, and it makes perfect sense for them to behave as animals, without any regard to familial ties. The Nazis have created this environment, and the prisoners have no choice but to disregard the normal rules of human society.

At the end of this brief section, all the prisoners start imitating the death cry of one of the prisoners. The initial noise‹"the cry of a wounded animal"‹spreads to the entire train and indicates how ready the prisoners are to die."

http://www.gradesaver.com/night/study-guide/section7/

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When the train stops, SS officers order that corpses be thrown out of the car. Two men begin to throw Eliezer's father out of the train, but Eliezer revives him by slapping him viciously and screaming desperately in his face.

http://www.gradesaver.com/night/study-guide/section7/

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