Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Although Night by Elie Wiesel is technically a non-fiction memoir, it is organized and narrated very much like a novel. What novelistic uses of...

Night by Elie Wiesel is organized much like a novel. Wiesel uses imagery throughout as he describes his town of Sighet in the beginning and the horrors of the concentration camps later. A good example is found as the Jews are waiting to be deported to the camps:



"There was joy--yes, joy. Perhaps they thought that God could have devised no torment in hell worse than that of sitting there among the bundles, in the middle of the road, beneath a blazing sun, that anything would be preferable to that. They began their journey without a backward glance at the abandoned streets, the dead, empty houses, the gardens, the tombstones..." (Wiesel 14)



Symbolism is also prevalent in Wiesel's book. The title itself is symbolic of the Holocaust being like one long dark night, and the word "night" is used throughout the book to reinforce that idea.  Fire is another symbol which not only burns Jewish bodies, but it also burns up Elie's faith. 


The best example of foreshadowing is in the section about Mme. Schacter on the train. She screams about seeing fire, but since nobody else can see it, they take her for mad. Yet, when they arrive at Auschwitz, the fire is blazing right in front of them. 


Finally, Elie Wiesel tells about the events as though he is telling a story, giving it a narrative feel. He tells it in such a way that we feel we are right there with him, participating in his experiences, witnessing the Holocaust with our own eyes. 

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