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
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.
Elie Wiesel writes a powerful and moving novel titled “Night” detailing his journey throughout what we now know today as the Holocaust while also bringing in elements of symbolism and imagery to strengthen the novel and deliver a story that is not only incredible but impactful as well. Throughout the book Elie slowly begins to lose his faith, his father, and his dignity which is shown through the symbol of night. "We were given no food. We lived on snow; it took place of the bread. The days were like nights, and the nights left the dregs of their darkness in our souls"(Wiesel 94).” In this quote Elie states what the nights would bring to the Jews which is darkness. This reveals his feelings of being alone with no God and the dark of night that
As the famous journalist Iris Chang once said, “As the Nobel Laureate warned years ago, to forget a holocaust is to kill twice.” After experiencing the tragedies that occurred during the Holocaust, Eliezer Wiesel narrated “Night”. Eliezer wrote “Night” in an attempt to prevent something similar to the Holocaust from happening again, by showing the audience what the consequences are that come from becoming a bystander. Elie illustrated numerous themes by narrating the state of turmoil he was in during the Holocaust. In Night, Eliezer provided insight into what he experienced in order to teach the unaware audience about three themes; identity, silence, and faith.
In the novel “Night”, author, Elie Wiesel uses imagery to share his experiences as a jew during the holocaust. Wiesel’s use of imagery helps demonstrate the tone and purpose of the entire novel. Elie Wiesel’s journey starts off subtle but in the end leaves the reader heartbroken. Throughout the story, Wiesel describes his tragic memories during the nazi concentration camps, which establishes a dark and somber tone. His descriptions and use of imagery creates the tone and purpose of “Night”.
When Wiesel and other Jews are forced to witness the hanging of a child, he recalls, “Behind me, I heard the...man asking: ‘For God’s sake, where is God?’ And from within me, I heard a voice answer: ‘Where He is? This is where-hanging from this gallows…’ That night the soup tasted of corpses” (pg 65). Wiesel had witnessed other hangings and even babies being thrown into fire pits before. However, on this occasion, the child did not die after the chair he was standing on was knocked over. The child remained battling between life and death for more than half an hour before finally passing away. This quote hints that the death of the child directly affected Wiesel since it caused him to answer the other Jewish man’s question in his mind by replying that God was dead. Wiesel was left so stunned by the death of the child that he even described his soup as having the taste of corpses. All of this can lead the reader to assume that Wiesel experienced a spiritual death. Wiesel is not the only person who has experienced a spiritual death due to the fact many people stop having faith in God when someone that they love passes away. People’s pain extends so far that they begin to question the existence of God and some of the ultimately stop believing. All in all, Wiesel uses night as a motif to show how
The title “Night” by Elie Wiesel symbolizes death. Death is symbolized throughout the book with the last night Elie is with his father, Elie’s last night in Sighet, and the last night in Buna. When it was Elie’s last night in Sighet so many Jews had already died at night. Also, after Elie’s last night in Buna the patients who stayed in the infirmary were killed by the Russians. Lastly, Elie spent his last moments with his father at night when his father gave up so another death at night. The symbolism of night, deaths, and last nights in shown in the text when the book states, “How much longer would our lives be lived from one “last night” to the next?” The text is saying that when will it become their last night meaning when they die so what
The Holocaust was a time of death. It was initiated by Adolf Hitler and his German army and was the mass genocide that killed over six million Jews. Among those were women and children being sent to death right away, the others were then “selected”, Elie Wiesel was one of the lucky ones. He was a survivor who lived to tell about his experience in the death camps. Elie Wiesel wrote the book ‘Night’ because he felt it was his duty and responsibility to show readers what really happened during the Holocaust. His writing style effectively develops his point of view so he is able to convey a compelling story-his story.
Sometimes a single word can describe everything for an individual. In Elie Wiesel’s autobiography Night, Wiesel has been exposed tribulations during The Holocaust; he had been taken captive at the young age of fifteen and spent months at the precipice of death. When several people would have an array of words to illustrate the entirety of the novel, Wiesel had saw fit one to fully do the job. Night is entitled Night because it depicts, symbolizes, and is a personification of Wiesel experiences and thoughts of The Holocaust.
Throughout Night, the reader can see many examples of why the book has its title. Night is a motif that shows up in the book, but what gives the motif of night its meaning is its connotation. Many people consider nighttime to be when bad things happen, when criminals lurk, when people are most vulnerable to the dangers of life. This negative connotation allows this motif to have more meaning to it. Night is in no way a very happy story, and Elie Wiesel remembers a lot of his Holocaust experiences taking place during the night, or that it always felt like it was nighttime.
Although Wiesel’s main reasoning for writing “Night” was most likely to share his horrible struggles during the Holocaust, a reoccurring theme that he used throughout his life was that “indifference to evil is evil,” meaning that even though the people at the time of the Holocaust knew what was happening, they were just as much to blame for what happened since they never acted on what terrible things they saw (Kolbert 72). This statement shows how much he saw the struggles against moral apathy gives more reason as to why he may have wanted to write “Night." The impact of Wiesel’s story on the world was that it greatly opened people’s eyes to the fact that the Holocaust did happen in the past, and that it shouldn’t be pushed aside and forgotten,
Most books have a significant title to them, the title is designed specifically for the book and has a meaning that is associated with the story. In Night, Wiesel focuses on how quickly a life can change over one night. He focuses on how they loath the next day.
In Night, Elie Wiesel uses the word “night” literally to indicate nighttime and metaphorically to symbolize dark ideas such as death, evil, ruthlessness, immorality and the loss of will to live. On the eve of Rosh Hashanah Elie says that “Night was falling rapidly” (Wiesel 66). The use of “night” here two purposes; the first is to tell the time which is literal, but the metaphorical use of it expresses darkness and sorrow of the Jewish people. The end of the year deserves celebration, but that year, the Jews had no reason to celebrate. Wiesel uses “night” to imply the darkness and sorrow the Jews felt during that time. After starting to evacuate, Elie expresses his hopelessness and despair: “The gates of the camp opened. It seemed as though
I think that the main point of Wiesel’s novel, Night, is to understand what Wiesel believed the Jews had lost during the Holocaust, specifically in the concentration camps. He describes multiple moments in which fear had completely changed him and the world around him. According to Wiesel, he felt as if the