Symbolism In Denzel Washington's The Book Of Eli

“Fine then! But I am better than you in EVERY WAY!” You shout at your former friend, the anger welling up inside of you. “ Don’t even try to act like you could ever be better than me. You never could. So you can stop trying.” As soon as you spit those words out, you finally realize what you’re getting into. “You ARROGANT beast!” Your opponent shouts at you, not hesitantly at all, like the insult was a bitter taste he had to get out of his mouth. Before you know it, your actions are fueled by the burning passion of rage. About five minutes later, you are still punching the air as you are pulled of him, still trying to swing at his head, trying to hit him just once, or maybe even as many times as he hit you. You think about the fight. You don’t want to admit it, but you WERE an arrogant beast, like he said. And look where it got you. Bruised, bloody, and beaten up. Arrogance can lead to violence, and the story, “The Fight”, by Adam Bagdasarian, can very clearly reflect this theme. In the beginning of the story, Adam was cocky and arrogant. All he thought about was how great and tough he was. In the middle of the story, another middle schooler, Mike, challenged him to a fight, and Adam was petrified. At the end of the story, Adam lost the fight and was not as cocky and pride-filled.

This shows Elie’s change in his thoughts on God and having faith. At the beginning of the story, Elie strives to be a spiritual kid and is fascinated by learning about God. He goes behind his father's back to learn about God with Moishe the Beadle, and has intense prayers everyday which he cries during. However, he becomes bitter towards God, angry about all the pain he has inflicted on the Jewish race. This change in perspective was brought on by the torture, abuse, and inhumane treatment by the Nazis. It causes Elie to question how God, who is supposed to be helpful and good, could ever allow such horror. This connects to loss, and how the traumatic

A3 Suzy Kassem once wrote, “The gut is the seat of all feeling. Polluting the gut not only cripples your immune system, but also destroys your sense of empathy, the ability to identify with other humans.” The destruction of the human sense of apathy, as mentioned by Suzy Kassem, is the same kind of emotional desensitization that Auschwitz caused Elie to experience. Night by Elie Wiesel uses symbolism, personal conflicts, and flashbacks to show how desensitization leads to people becoming emotionally dormant, as he experienced during his time at Auschwitz. Through his use of symbolism, Elie exposes the emotional dormancy he experienced during his time at Auschwitz.

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.

[Lead in sentence/Hook] “Son of a Trickster,” by Eden Robinson, is the story about the coming of age and rough period of adolescence of a young Aboriginal boy. Through her novel, Robinson is able to convey a message that the Aboriginal people, mainly focusing on the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations, are dark and grating societies of Canada. In order for her readers to understand her perspective of the society, she first demonstrates the selfishness of the societies with the symbolism of raven along with its traits and attributes. Secondly, she uses supernaturalism which shows the mysterious and deceiving society of the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations. Lastly, the connection of Jared’s relationships with his peers reveal the negative influences, trends, and issues within the Aboriginal societies. Overall, all these factors contribute the darkness of both reality and the story.

Like one of the symbols Elie uses is he father in his narrative. All through the book Elie doesn't leave his father, he never leaves his father's side. His father clearly means not being alone, comfort. I feel like is Elie didn’t have his father he wouldn't have survived. I only say this because Elie went to his father for anything and everything. If he didn’t have his father I think Elie would have lost it or possibly killed himself, because he's lived a life where he's never been on his own and he's only 15. To continue, Elie’s father also symbolises growing up. When his father started getting weaker by the day, Ellie grew up to take care of his father instead of his father taking care of him. Furthermore along the story you will see almost a pattern in the book, in the nights of the book that's well most of the horrible actions are taken place. When Elie’s father goes to that meeting with the council in the ghetto, that took place at night. Then every time Elie and his dad switched concentration camp that was at night. This is probably the main reason why Elie Wiesel named his book night, probably to get the reader to think more about the nights Elie went through in his narrative. Lastly, one of the symbols that I caught while reading is fire. In the beginning of the book, there's a woman by the name of Mrs.Schachter. She was in the cattle car with

“Night. No one prayed, so that the night would pass quickly. The stars were only sparks of fire which devoured us. Should that fire die out one day, there would be nothing left in the sky but dead stars, dead eyes” ( Wiesel 18).

What defines a “good” or “bad” person? The answer is complicated because we all have different perspectives on what we believe to be right and wrong. We as individuals have our own set of ethics by which we try to use when making decisions. However, when a person encounters a difficult dilemma, that choice can impact and even alter a person’s life. “Good People” by David Foster Wallace is an informative and insightful story of a young, unwed, Christian couple that are facing the conflicts of an unplanned pregnancy. Although outwardly this story seems to focus on “to abort” or “not to abort,” the underlying theme focuses on the internal conflicts the young man faces when weighing out the consequences of a decision. David Foster Wallace uses symbolism and an omniscient third person point of view in “Good People” to illustrate the internal battle one faces when dealing with the moral and religious dilemmas such as an unplanned pregnancy.

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 Night the setting is symbolic. The author Elie Wiesel uses symbolism by the street name being synonymous to evil or the devil. Wiesel writes “The street we lived on, Serpent street, was in the first ghetto” (11). In the story of Adam and Eve, Eve is tempted by the devil who takes the form of a serpent. The Nazis naming a street in the ghetto where they put the Jews Serpent Street symbolizes that they view the Jewish people as evil or like the devil. Symbolism is also found when they are in the cattle car. The quote “The world had become a hermetically sealed cattle car”(24). By saying that the world is a hermetically sealed cattle car it is symbolizing how their world is getting smaller and how they have no control over where they go or

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.

Life in the shelter has him finding himself doing the same routine everyday. It is boring and not any fun. His father only thought of the essentials and what was considered a basic need along with only few wants. This has Eli left with only few options for the day. That is to be lazy or play basketball once again just like all the other days. He is still privileged enough to have a shower and bathroom and those sorts of things though. So at least he has his hygiene. Several years later Eli finds himself able to finally break free of the prison that was the shelter. He finally gets to know the truth. Anticipating and eager, he goes into the outside world. Only to find out that he basically spent fifteen years in the shelter for nothing. Life is still a thing. He finds his lost family members and reunites. He never believed that it would be a reality but there it was right in front of him.

The author of the book Night is Elie Wiesel and the main character is Eliezer. The title Night points out to the darkness of mind, life and soul experienced by everyone who had suffered in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The theme of Night is Eliezer’s difficulty to maintain his faith in God. In the book Night, Eliezer’s faith fades away by seeing the horrible conditions of his surroundings, the painful deaths of many innocent people and by persecution.

Elie’s faith in his Lord and his instinctive love for humanity are put to their final tests as the novel approaches its climax and conclusion. After witnessing the malicious, brutal hanging of an innocent child, Elie comes to the

“One never learns how the witch became wicked, nor whether that was the right choice for her, is it ever the right choice? Does the devil ever struggle to be good again, or if so is he not a devil?” Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West tells the story of the green girl named Elphaba who grew up to become one of the most iconic evil characters in history. While telling her story, Maguire incorporates symbolism and similar senses of style, genre, and theme to give his words deeper meaning and to capture the essence of his characters.