Figurative Language In The Book Night

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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

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