Figurative Language In Night By Elie Wiesel

Language has the ability to impact the mood and tone of a piece in literature. In Night, Wiesel uses imagery, symbolism, diction and foreshadowing to illustrate dehumanization. The deeper true horror of the Holocaust is not what they Nazi’s did, but the behavior they legitimized as human beings being dehumanized by one another through silence and apathy.

The first example of Wiesel’s powerful figurative language was a Rhetorical Question. “When had we left our homes? And the ghetto? Only a week ago? One night?

Wiesel can neither justify nor comprehend the inhumane atrocity he endured during his enslavement, however discovers brutality becomes a way of life to outlive the Holocaust.

Overall I think that the literary devices used in Night bring Wiesel’s words to life. They give detail to his experiences and help the reader better understand the different situations he experienced. You can see, hear, and feel each atrocity he faced because of each literary

In Night a memoir by Elie Wiesel, he uses imagery, simile, and connotation to demonstrate the effects of dehumanization and what affect it has on people.

In the book Night author Elie Wiesel enlightens us into his world and vision he once lived before in a time in which was known as some of Americas worst times. In Elie Wiesel’s book Night gives off very good imagery in which we see in his writing by the precise wording he uses. His emotion in which he gives are a mixed in between frustration, confusion, hope, and etc. An example in which he gives “Jews, listen to me,” she cried. “I see a fire! I see flames, huge flames!” (Wiesel). By this quote shows very well imagery as well as to show emotions such as destruction, death, and damage.

First of all, the use of situational irony by both authors truly reveals the differences between appearances and realities. In Night, Wiesel uses situational irony

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.

Elie Wiesel keeps a strong mindset in the sense that he puts his mind in a better place, knowing the large physical and mental toll these journeys have on him. Elie Wiesel puts his mind in a better place, “I [try] to put it out of my mind, I [can’t] help thinking that there [are] two of us: my body and I” (Wiesel 85). In doing this Wiesel knows the energy being spared during these journey’s and wants to save his brain and energy for another experience he will have in the future. He knows he is not alone anymore, he at least has two parts of himself, even if there is only one physical being. Wiesel is now his body and mind, and his mind was the most crucial and the strongest part of his survival through the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel mentally made the physically draining journey easier on himself, he “[moves] like a sleepwalker”, he “sometimes [closes] [his] eyes and it [is] like running while asleep” (Wiesel 87). Again, with the sense of willpower, the need to make it through the death march. These journeys are so draining that it was too much to even sustain his awoken state. But being in a sleepwalk typesetting is allowing excess energy to be used to not wanting to fall apart. He out of many people in the death march and death camps never gave up and lost willpower, that is one of the many reasons Wiesel is a Holocaust

As their time in the concentration camp continues, the conditions there worsen. The prisoners are soon forced into a treacherous forty-two mile run in the icy cold, which makes them struggle between life the death. During this march, one thing keeps Wiesel’s will to live alive and that is his father. This shows one of Wiesel’s weakest moments, where he contemplates giving up numerous times. Exhaustion takes over his body, and the only thing he can think about is the pleasures that death would bring him. Wiesel’s mind overpowers him and he reflects, “Death wrapped itself around me till I was stifled. It stuck to me. I felt that I could touch it. The idea of dying, of no longer being, began to fascinate me” (82). However, his father needs him, and that is truly what drives him to keep pushing until the end. They stay alive for each other, which shows how much they really care about the other. While Wiesel rests in the shed after the run, Rabbi Eliahou, a very well-liked man, comes in looking for his son. He and his son have been sticking together for three years. Wiesel expresses that he has not seen him, without realizing that this is false. The Rabbi’s son purposely left him, to strengthen his own chances of survival. Wiesel is taken aback by this, and astonishingly begins to pray. He thinks, “My God,

It seems as if in spite of harsh situations, the capability of our greatness can be most exhibited in tough times. Wiesel constantly depicts the harsh and brutal conditions of the concentration camps. The dehumanization of the Jews seemed almost unreal after reading all of the brutal encounters of death. Night focuses on multiple themes: silence, inhumanity to others, and father/son bonding. Wiesel struggles with his faith throughout the story and believes that God is everywhere, and he cannot understand how God could let this happen, especially as Wiesel faces conflict everyday in the concentration camp.

Wiesel does a wonderful job with his use of pathos throughout the speech by making the audience reflect on his words and creates a strong emotional reaction for what is being said. From being a survivor of the Holocaust, one of the darkest parts of history as well as the most shallow times for humanity. Immediate sympathy is drawn from the audience. When he states that himself endured the horrible conditions these people had to live in. He then explains to us that the people there, “No longer felt hunger, pain, thirst. They feared nothing. They felt nothing. They were dead and did not know it.” With saying this it brings forth feelings of guilt, one of the most negative emotions to accumulate a reaction towards these events. Also numerous people throughout the world long for world peace and to hear the inhumane acts that was once acted upon an innocent man, makes their stomach's sink. Wiesel defines its derivation, as “no difference” and uses numerous comparisons on what may cause indifference, as a “strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur.” Like good and evil, dark and light. Wiesel continues to attract the audience emotionally by stating this he is aware of how tempting it may be to be indifferent and that at times it can be easier to avoid

Wiesel wrote his novel for more than simply wanting to share his story with his reader, he wrote “Night” because he felt, “I needed to give some meaning to my survival” (Wiesel, 6), he believed he survived for a reason not simply by luck or chance. Although there are many controversy as to why he wrote his novel, in his interview with “The Paris Review” he address as to why, “I didn’t want to write those books. I wrote them against myself. But I realize that if we do not use words, the

Often, the theme of a novel extends into a deeper significance than what is first apparent on the surface. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, the theme of night and darkness is prevalent throughout the story and is used as a primary tool to convey symbolism, foreshadowing, and the hopeless defeat felt by prisoners of Holocaust concentration camps. Religion, the various occurring crucial nights, and the many instances of foreshadowing and symbolism clearly demonstrate how the reoccurring theme of night permeates throughout the novel.

In the memoir Night, by Elie Wiesel, the word night is repeatedly used as a metaphor symbolizing the conditions and emotions that the Jews struggle with during the Holocaust. Elie’s personal struggle with his experience evoke connotations of darkness that describe the inhumane treatment that Elie and the Jews are forced to endure throughout the memoir. In the beginning, Elie's town is invaded by German soldiers and soon, the Germans force all of the town's Jews to evacuate. After being thrown onto a freight train to Auschwitz, Elie experiences a whole new world filled with fear and hatred. Elie uses “night” to describe the struggles and hardships that he encounters throughout his experience. The literal meaning of the word night is simply the period of darkness everyday between sunset and sunrise. However, the metaphorical meaning of night, in this memoir, is far more sinister. As depicted in Night, the title metaphorically refers to the evil, hopelessness, and emotional coldness that the Jews are constantly forced to face throughout the Holocaust.