Elie Wiesel Symbolism

The one person in Elie’s life that means everything to him is his father. During his time in the concentration camps, Elie’s bond with his father

In Elie Wiesel’s biography we see the dynamic changes in both Elie and his fathers’ value of life and their religion. The transformation of Elie is heart wrenching; to see him go from a trusting boy to an apprehensive man. After he was captured and sent to Auschwitz, he began to abandon his

Symbolism: the artistic and poetic use of a phrase, object, or relationship to express a deeper idea. Night, by Elie Wiesel, is a retelling of Wiesel’s sacrifices and experiences as a young Jewish boy who had spent many years in concentration camps. Throughout the book, Wiesel uses an overwhelming amount of symbolism to express the deeper thoughts and feelings of the Jewish people as they did all they could to survive. Wiesel’s relationship with his father, Juliek’s violin, and the rations of food the Jews are provided with all symbolize the remnants of humanity that still remain in the Jews, who have been stripped of basically everything.

In the book Night, by Elie Wiesel, I believe that fire symbolizes Elie’s loss of faith and hope. Elie is confronted with fire, in many situations, and it is a constant reminder of how close he is to death. An example of this can be when Elie sees, “Not far from [them], flames, huge flames [that] were rising from a ditch. Something was being burned there.”(Wiesel 32) He soon realizes that small children were being thrown into the ditch and burned. This was one of the moments that triggered his loss of faith in god. He wonders why god is not helping the innocent and feels as if god has abandoned them. Another example can be when Elie says, “Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.”(Wiesel 34). This shows us how

Elie Wiesel uses several types of figurative language in Night. In his novel, Elie’s use of symbolism is most important in helping the reader understand the horrors of his experience during the Holocaust.

① After the opium wars of the 19th century, countries began to realize just how much power the western territories have over the nation when it comes to advanced military technology. Many decided that it was time to end their isolation and start modernizing in order to catch up with the great power of Europe. By the late nineteenth century, China and Japan began approaching the modernization process in different ways, with one still trying to maintain their traditional values and the other immediately encouraged their change to a modernized country that would be seen as an “equal” to the western countries. China began to realize that they need to build up their country after being defeated by the British during the opium war, so they decided

What is pain? What is loss? What is abandonment? It is something that modern most modern humans don’t need or want understand. Elie Wiesel is a 13 year old boy that had to go through the harsh truth of World War II. He is separated from his family, beaten when he is not obedient, and had to go through the loss of his father. Humans always feel the need to give up. The definition of lack of humanity is not humane (kindness of being human). Symbols are used to prove that lack of humanity can drive people to lose their identity and pride.

The definition of holocaust is destruction or slaughter on a mass scale, especially caused by fire or nuclear war. There are many examples of symbolism in the story NIGHT written by Elie Wiesel. In this essay, the words “Fire”, Juliek’s Violin, and when Elie emphasizes the word “corpses” are all examples of symbolism. In the story NIGHT, the word “Fire” symbolises death.

Before Elie went to Auschwitz, he possessed many positive character traits, such as being curious, responsible, and disciplined. Weitsel writes, “Together we would read over and over again the same pages of the Zohar. Not to know it by heart but to discover the very essence of divinity” (5). Studying with his tutor and mentor was something Elie loves to do. He grew up in a small town as a strict Orthodox Jew. He loves to learn and read about religion, but he longs to gain a deeper understanding of God and spent many hours with his tutor Moishe, which shows his curiosity for knowledge and discovery. Elie also shows great responsibility in these miserable and anxious times. “Go and wake the neighbors, said my father. “They must get ready…” (Weisel,14). His father asks Ellie to go warn the others in the Ghetto that they must pack their belongings and be ready to leave. Elie’s father trusts him and treats him as an adult. He is often asked to help

Before Elie went to Auschwitz, he exhibited many positive character traits. (Such as Compassion, Depressed, and Friendly. An example of compassion that Elie showed before was on page 5 that said, “And Moishe the Beadle, the poorest of the poor of Sighet, spoke to me for hours on end about the Kabbalah’s revelations and its mysteries. Thus began my initiation. Together we would read, over and over against, the same page of the Zohar. Not to learn it by heart but to discover within the very essence of divinity”(Wiesel). How he shows compassion is, Elie treats a man of lower social status with kindness, and the man repays him with studies of the Zohar. So a random act of kindness, could pay off someday, you never know. The next example of how Elie showed traits before Auschwitz was depression on page 10, “The Bible commands us to rejoice during the eight days of Passover, but our hearts were not in it. We wished the holiday would end so as not to have to pretend”(Wiesel 10). Elie was so depressed and scared, that

The Holocaust was the mass murder of Jews under the control of Hitler during the period 1941-1945. More than 6 million Jews, as well as members of other groups, such as gypsies and homosexuals, were murdered at concentration camps the biggest camp was Auschwitz. They got tea for their morning meal, for lunch prisoners would be given a litre of soup that was watered down. If they were lucky, they might find a piece of a potato peel. One of the survivors of the holocaust stated “Your bowl was your life, without your bowl you didn’t eat.” (Kitty - Return to Auschwitz, YTV 1979) Hunger caused the Jew inmates to do things they normally wouldn't do.

The relationship between Elie and his father gradually grew stronger throughout the Holocaust. Religion was a really important role in the Wiesel family. Elie was eager to study Kabbalah and disobeyed his father to do so. “ My father

Elie Wiesel’s Night is about what the Holocaust did, not just to the Jews, but, by extension, to humanity. The disturbing disregard for human beings, or the human body itself, still to this day, exacerbates fear in the hearts of men and women. The animalistic acts by the Nazis has scarred mankind eternally with abhorrence and discrimination.

When Elie arrived at the first concentration camp, he was a child, but when left he was no longer human. Elie’s character changed through his encounter of the Holocaust. Elie idolized his religion, Judaism, one relevant identification for him. Elie spent hours praying and learning about Judaism, but it was the reason he and his family were tormented for. Elie was so intrigued by Judaism, that he wanted someone a “master” to guide in his studies of Kabbalah, an ancient spiritual wisdom that teaches how to improve the lives (Wiesel 8). Furthermore, he loses hope in God and in life. Elie only had a few items when he arrived in the camp, one being his family, but that would soon be taken from him. When Elie and his family arrived at the camp in Auschwitz, he was kept by his father. He always gazed after his father, caring for him until his death.

While Elie was in the concentration camp he changed the way he acted. This new behavior led him to develop new character traits. While Ellie was in the concentration camp he became angry at many things. For example “I would have dug my nails into the criminals flesh” (Wisel 39). Elie shows extreme anger when the Nazi officials are beating Elie’s father. Elie was angry because the Nazi soldiers were not treating them nicely and keeping them in poor conditions. Elie was usually not a person to display anger, but he shows this when his family members are being hurt. Elie wants to stand up for what is right and for his family members. Despite his studying, Elie wavered in his belief in Kabbalah while he was at the camp. Elie was a religious boy before he went to Auschwitz, but while in the camp, he became angry at God. In the book Elie says, “‘Where are You, my God?’” (66). Elie is wondering why God is not helping the Jews. Elie had complete faith in his religion until he experienced and witnessed such horrible suffering. He had been taught that God will punish evil and save the righteous. However, when Elie saw that God was not helping the Jews situation,