In the memoir Night, the author, Elie Wiesel, tells his story about his life during the Holocaust. He talks about his experience in the concentration camps and the traumatic events that occurred. This is all to show a few different meanings. Firstly, the title itself represents the darkness and anguish the Jews experienced. One way Wiesel expresses this meaning is through figurative language, for example, “The days resembled the nights, and the nights left in our souls the dregs of their darkness (Wiesel 94).” This quote uses personification to stress how all light that may have existed before has left and now the prisoners were left with darkness. Another quote that highlights the significance of the title is when arriving at Birkenau Elie mentions “It must have been around midnight (Wiesel 28).” Both quotes show how the night is associated with the darker points in Elie’s journey and how he loses the light, which is his faith, on said journey. These quotes also represent the mood for most of the book which is dark and depressing. …show more content…
While in the camps, the prisoners experienced severe maltreatment to make them feel inferior and nonhuman. For example, the numbers tattooed onto the prisoners, or the Nazis taking their belongings and their clothes. These actions contribute to the common theme of the Nazis treating the Jews inhumanely. Moreover, another event where the Germans treated the Jews like animals was on the train to another camp. Wiesel says “One day when we had come to a stop, a worker took a piece of bread out of his bag and threw it into a wagon. There was a stampede. Dozens of starving men fought desperately over a few crumbs. The worker watched the spectacle with great interest (Wiesel
One of the most significant lines in Elie Wiesel's book Night is found on page 16 when he says, 'Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed.' This line is incredibly powerful as it serves as a motif throughout the entire book, providing an overarching metaphor for Elie's journey. The phrase 'seven times cursed and seven times sealed' is a reference to the seven days of creation from the book of Genesis, and the repetition of the word 'night' implies a feeling of timelessness, as if Elie's suffering will never end. The language Wiesel uses in this quote is incredibly effective in conveying the despair and hopelessness that he felt upon arriving
Poetic Perspective of the Word ‘Night’ in the book ‘Night’ The word ‘night’ could have multiple meanings other than the time we have to unwind to sleep and the moon rises with the stars. Although, some people see night as the most dangerous time throughout the day because you have the shadows to cover you from commiting a crime and successfully get away with it. This is the case for Elie Wiesel, except, his and millions of other jew’s perpetrators were caught and punished for their crimes. One speculates that Elie decided to title his book ‘night’ because the atrocity that Elie endured started during the night for him by witnessing the crematorium burn human bodies on his way to the concentration camp.
It’s often complicated to metaphorically express a depressing topic with only one word that people can relate to. Author Elie Wiesel had managed to complete this feat, though many may argue what exactly Wiesel meant to express. The word “night” symbolizes fear, hopelessness, and futility. This gives reason to why the word and its extended metaphor are appropriate for the title. To put a start to the claim, the word night symbolizes fear because, at many points of the biography it tells of the situations where Wiesel and his family experienced the horrible emotion.
Wiesel describes a situation he observed when on his way to the concentration camp in a tight rail cart. A woman, devastated by the events that had occurred, was screaming about the fire she was hallucinating. Her fellow Jews thought of their own survival and the survival of the family first when they beat the woman to keep her quiet and not draw attention
The book Night is a memoir by Elie Wiesel, he was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to the Auschwitz concentration camps, and then to Buchenwald. Night is a terrifying record of Elie Wiesel’s memories of the death of his family, and the death of his own innocence. In this memoir Wiesel describes different events that’s he experiences in the concentration camps. For example, there is one scene that sticks out to me in this whole book.
In Elie Wiesel's’ holocaust memoir, Night, the impression of night itself is a constant burden that never seems too far out of reach for Elie. In fact, it is more of a lurking concept that slowly and progressively consumes his childlike idealism, and envelops his inner thoughts, eventually stripping him of his optimism altogether. Despite the fact that some scenes take place in broad daylight, the presence of night is consistent and easily invoked throughout the novel. In the text, night serves as a recurring symbol or motif. The meaning or significance of this in the novel is its representation of both the uncertainty and darkness that are inevitably brought along with the night, which hopelessly surrounds those who suffered as victims in
The novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel is equivalent to the darkness felt by the author writing it, in the prisoner's souls, and going on around them. The title “Night” could be equivalent to the darkness the author was going through while writing this novel. “Behind me, an old man fell to the ground. Near him was an SS man, putting his revolver back in his holster” (Wiesel 30).
“Night” represents the dark recesses of humanity with the loss of a divine presence. In a world of atrocities and horrors, the light of faith slowly fades away leaving a dark void to engulf the remaining survivor's minds and hearts. Within the void, Elie confronts the reality of a forgotten savoir that has turned a blind eye leaving the Jews on their own. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir “Night”, the author recollects the atrocity witnessed that forever changed his view and murdered his God. He describes the event within his poem “Never Shall I Forget” as he watched the fire and flames that consumed him with the ash of the children who transformed under the blind eye of
Night, an autobiography that was written by Elie Wiesel, is from his perspective as a prisoner. The book focuses on Wiesel and his father experiencing the torture that the Nazis put them through, and the unspeakable events that Wiesel witnessed. The author, Wiesel, was one of the handfuls of survivors to be able to tell his time about the appalling incidents that occurred during the Holocaust. That being the case, in the memoir Night, Wiesel uses somber descriptive diction, along with vivid syntax to portray the dehumanizing actions of the Nazis and to invoke empathy to the reader.
The word night ties in with darkness. Darkness, or the absence of light, is used in the book to convey the absence of self, love, peace, happiness, faith, and strength, which were all what the Jewish people lost during the Holocaust. Wiesel’s purpose for using this symbol was to provide the reader with a better understanding of the fear that he felt during his time in the concentration camps. In the Night, Wiesel says “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke.
Wiesel survives and this is his story so he can show the world what they lived through. In the historical text, Night, Elie Wiesel conveys the symbol of the night as an endless time period in which he is referring to the camp and ,this shifts over time and then reveals the theme night can consume your hope and strip your identity. When the time of day comes when the night is coming
The Symbolism and Use of the Word “Night” in Elie Wiesel’s Memoir In “Night,” a memoir by Elie Wiesel, the author uses the word “night” symbolism to portray and further emphasize the horrors that occur during the night. Elie Wiesel’s memoir, “Night,” shows the atrocities of the Holocaust and the impact it had on humanity. In this memoir, Wiesel uses the word "night" as a motif to highlight the loss of faith and humanity experienced by those who lived through the Holocaust. As Wiesel describes his experiences, his words emphasize the darkness and horror of the Holocaust.
It is commonly known that a number of crimes and offenses are committed during the night. The shrouding darkness commonly associated with this word is perfect; for anyone planning on doing anything malicious, that is. However, this darkness is not only limited to just the time of day with a low presence of visible light, it can hold a much sinister definition. Night by Elie Wiesel is a perfect portrayal of this; right in the title itself. The use of the word night suggests that the nature of the events within the Holocaust survivors memoir went undetected - left behind in the dark - like the night, and how the theme of struggle, hopelessness, and darkness, which are prevalent throughout the book, portray it.
"The camp looked as though it had been through an epidemic, empty and dead" (Wiesel 47).
When you think of the word, Night, your mind most likely thinks of silence or being in the dark. I believe Elie Wiesel chose the title, Night, to reflect the tone of the novel and convey the feelings of despair he felt when experiencing the Holocaust. Obviously, in this case, the title, Night, displays sorrow, anguish and obscurity. In addition, it shows that the majority of the jews were in the dark in regards to the Holocaust.