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What Are Examples Of Figurative In Night

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Norman Cousins, a political journalist for the Saturday Review, once said, “The tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside of us while we live”. This can be found true in Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night. Elie Wiesel was a survivor of the Holocaust, who dedicated his life to bringing awareness to the horrendous, and cruel actions that took place at the concentration camps in the time of Nazi Germany. He endured many physical challenges, as well as many mental challenges throughout his time in the inferno, Auschwitz. Although, he was surrounded by death, the death inside of him seemed much greater. The loss of his humanity, faith, and identity seemed to be his greatest loss.Because Death is not just physical, but figurative in Night, …show more content…

The first instance where a loss of humanity was revealed was when Moishe the Beadle escaped from a round up of all foreign Jews and told Elie what had happened before he escaped. At one point when Moishe was explaining what happened, he begins to tell Elie what the Hungarian Police did to the babies. Moishe described what happened by saying, “Infants were tossed into the air and used as targets for the machine guns” (6). This shows a loss of humanity because, innocent children who had done nothing were treated as targets for cruel policemen, instead of being spared. Another instance, where there was a loss of humanity was when Elie and the other Jews were first loaded into the cattle cars and the Hungarian Police presented a list of rules. The Hungarian officer had said, “If anyone goes missing, you will …show more content…

One of the first losses of faith can be found when Elie and the rest of the Jews first arrive at Auschwitz and Elie see’s all the Jewish men begin to recite Kaddish. Elie expressed how he felt about preying in such a frightening time by saying, “For the first time, I felt anger rising within me Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the external and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank him for?” (33). This quote shows Elie’s loss of faith because, Elie is questioning God for not saving him and the other Jews from the from being put into the concetration camps. This was just the beggining of Elie’s loss of faith. Elie continues to question, and loss his faith when he witnesses a little pipel get hung from the gallows. Elie said, “‘For God’s sake, where is God.’ And from within me, I heard a voice answer: ‘Where He is? This is where- hanging here from this gallows…’” (65). This quote symbolizes a loss of faith because it shows Elie expaining how it’s like God is dead, and how God had died with the innocent little pipel. The last loss of faith found was not in Elie, but in Akiba Drummer. Drummer went on to explain his loss of faith by saying, “‘ Where’s God? How can I believe, how can anyone believe in this God of Mercy?’” (77). This shows a loss of faith because, Akiba asks Elie how anyone could believe in God when millions of people were dying,

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