Nigh DBQ: Rough Draft
We communicate through words, but imagine if nobody could understand you at some point and you had to find different ways to express yourself. During World War II, two-thirds of the Jews living in Europe were killed, this attempt of genocide is known as the Holocaust. Survivors of this have had trouble searching for the right words to express their selves and experiences. Although they struggled, they managed to find ways to tell their stories through symbolism, the repetition of words, and confessing the failure of words.
Symbolism can represent anything you want through the use of symbols. This is what Elie Wiesel does in his book Night. He describes his first night at the camp in Auschwitz writing “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed” (Doc A). This is where “night” turns into a symbol of sadness and hopelessness. In the book And Every Single One Was Someone by Phil Chernofsky the word “Jew” (Doc B) is also symbolic. Each word in the book represent a life that was taken during the Holocaust. These words symbolized more than what was and is recognized.
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Adding to the symbolism of the word “night” it is also repeated throughout the book as well as the phrase “never shall I forget” (Doc A) that is repeated in a same section where Elie tells his first night in camp. This phrase is repeated to make the reader “never forget” about these times. The word “Jew” in And Every Single Was Someone (Doc B) is also repeated, but not a few times but six million times. This is extremely powerful because it is without exaggeration and to know that each word represents a human life just makes it harder to take
The first and most prevalent example of symbolism in the book is the title itself. By calling the novel “Night” it is apparent to the reader that the Holocaust was a dark experience, full of terror and suffering. The entire novel is filled with “last nights”. Elie experiences the last night withEl his father, the last night in Buna, the last night in the ghetto, and several others throughout the book. The term “night” also references to a life without a God. Wiesel often says that God does not
One of the main themes throughout the book is the title of the book “Night”. There are references from Eliezer about night during the book, which are full of symbolism. The word “night” is used repeatedly, and Eliezer recounts every dusk, night and dawn through the entire book. For instance, Night could be a metaphor for the Holocaust—submerge the family and thousands of Jewish families in the darkness and misery of the concentration camps.
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.
Night contains a significant amount of figurative language. Select 3 examples from the text to analyze. In analyzing each example, be sure to explain how the specific example impacts the text. (How does it affect the reader? How does it affect the reading experience? Why did Wiesel make that specific choice?) Please use a different type of figurative language for each example.
In the annals of history, the Holocaust registers as one of mankind’s most “unspeakable” offenses. And yet, over the past seventy years, survivors have strived nonetheless to transform torture into language—to verbalize the violence against man’s body and spirit that occurred at the hands of the Nazis.
A little over 70 years ago, Elie Wiesel survived a situation that many people could not even fathom. In 1944, Elie and his family were brought to Auschwitz where he nearly experienced death many times.
Strong bonds built upon trust and dependability can last a lifetime, especially through strenuous moments when the integrity of a bond is the only thing that can be counted on to get through those situations. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, he writes about his life spent in the concentration camps, while explaining the experiences and struggles that he went through. However, not everything during that period was completely unbearable for Wiesel. When Wiesel arrived at the first camp, Birkenau, the fear instilled in him and the loneliness he would have felt forced him to form a stronger attachment to his father. That dependence towards his father gave Wiesel a reason to keep on living. In turn, his father was able to support Wiesel and make the experiences in the camps a bit more manageable.
Many authors use symbolism to express their former experiences in autobiographies. In the book Night, by Elie Wiesel, a teenager named Elie Wiesel and his family are sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. During their time there, Elie suffers from beatings, despair and the death of his family. Throughout the novel, Wiesel explains his experiences and horrors of the holocaust with lots of imagery and symbolism. These terrible experiences are explained through fire, darkness, and night.
Night, by Elie Wiesel, is a memoir on his gruesome experiences in his time in Auschwitz. After the first edition of the book, there was a section which he changed the language and syntax to possibly make his text more powerful, and to spell-check and revise any errors he had because at the time, he was only 20. The change of the text was much more effective than the old version because the syntax made the section stand out more and the diction was much better to make the section overall much more powerful to the readers. The use of syntax was much more effective in the newer version than the old version because it makes all the words seem independent and makes each word stand out in its own way.
Sufferage. Loss. Tears. Night, a memoir written by Elie Wiesel, explains what his father & himself went through as prisoners during the Holocaust. Elie describes everything his father and himself saw and experienced while in a concentration camp. Elie had great faith before the Holocaust, but questioned it due to his experiences at the camp.
In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, Wiesel continues to repeat the word “night,” throughout the book. This word represents how Wiesel feels about the war and how he is in a never-ending realm of sadness and darkness. “So many events have taken place in just a few hours I had completely lost the notion of all time. When had we left our homes?And the ghetto? And the train?
“Night is purer than day; it is better for thinking and loving and dreaming. At night everything is more intense, more true. The echo of words that have been spoken during the day takes a new and deeper meaning,” – Elie Wiesel. The tittle night is one example of symbolism. The night stands for suffering and hopelessness and the dark time in Elie’s life. There are many examples of symbolism in the novel Night by Elie Weisel. Three examples that I’m going to discuss are: Elie’s inheritance, the use of fire, and Elie’s use of the word “corpses.”
In the memoir “Night” the author, Elie Wiesel uses word choice to show the readers disbelieving tone. This choice is important to the narrative as a whole because it develops the reader's understanding of the characters conflict of dealing with his own sadness. When Elie was in the concentration camp, the author says “Never shall I forgot those moments that murdered my god and soul and turned my dreams into ashes”. This is an example of repetition and word choice. By including repetition and word choice the author make the reader feel the impact of what is happening to Elie because of I can’t imagine what he was going through and how he felt. Then is repeated when Elie was talking to his father and his father asks him if he remembers. The author
The English dictionary is wrong. While it is factual in portraying the meaning of each word in the English language, it leaves out a profusion of information. For instance, dictionary.com describes the word “choice” as an act or instance of choosing or a selection. However, each choice a person composes holds more meaning in an entire life sense than this definition offers. In my opinion, there can be no right dictionary. No book or website can limit the meaning of a word to a single sentence or two. The meaning of any word is so powerful that it holds a separate definition to each person. Elie Wiesel was a Holocaust survivor and an influential figure to many individuals across the world. His words held strength and many people have a different
In situations of crises, people can have different reactions; some people might be destroyed by the hardships associated with being forcefully imprisoned in concentration camps, others may transcend above these crises through their strengths. In fact, many people in the Holocaust reacted differently; some by rising above with strength and determination while others exiled their faith to the shadows forever. Throughout history, several different reactions have been accounted for but some do not take the time to think of why survivors reacted in the manner that they did. By doing this, many people will gain greater insight on just how devastating the Holocaust was, even though some chose to make light out of darkness. Therefore, though the Holocaust is a despicable time in history, many chose to write memoirs about it in order to share their tales of both devastation and conquer to all who were unaware of the Holocaust’s significant affect on people (since many chose to turn their heads the other way while this was happening.) Overall, there were mixed reactions regarding the Holocaust, some using it to make themselves stronger, while others were severely affected; suffering from blows that would never heal.