Breana Stephen

Period 6

“Night” by Elie Wiesel

Autobiography

Literary Elements

Irony-

“Hitler wont be able to do us any harm, even if he wants to”(page.4).

“Besides people were interested in everything-in strategy, in diplomacy, in politics, in Zionism-but not in their own fate”(page.4)

Metaphor-

“The head of our tent was a German. An assassins face, fleshy lips, hands like a wolf’s paws”(page.31)

“There would be nothing left in the sky but dead stars, dead eyes”(page.13)

Simile-

“The backyard became like the hall outside an operating room”(page.7)

“A weariness like molten lead began to settle in the veins, the limbs, and the brain”(page.9)

Foreshadowing-

“In my father’s place lay another invalid”(page.75)

“His son had seen him losing ground…And he had continued to run on in front, letting the distance between them grow greater”(page.6

Imagery-

“From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me”(page.77).

“I must have been very dirty and exhausted, to judge from the appearance of the others”(page.64).

Literary Elements cont…

Internal Conflict-

“I had watched the whole scene without moving. I keep quiet. In fact I was thinking of how to get farther away so I would not be hit myself”(page.36).

“Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself”(page.22).

Characterization-

“I began to think of myself again”(page.58)

“I bade farewell to my father, to the whole universe; and, in spite of myself, the words formed themselves and issued in a whisper from my lips”(page.22)

Indifference-

“How could it be possible for them to burn people, children, and for the world to keep silent?”(page.20)

“Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live”(page.22)

Plot-

“Never shall I forget that night….which turned my life into one long night”(page.22)

“No, none of this could be true. It was a nightmare?”(page.21)

Theme Analysis Part 1

Theme: Struggle To Maintain Faith

Theme Analysis Part 2

In the novella “Night” by Elie Wiesel, one of the many themes he discussed was the struggle to maintain his faith. Wiesel develops this theme while his experience during the Holocaust got worse. Every time Wiesel, his father, or a fellow Jew suffered, his belief in god started to decrease. Wiesel develops this theme by repeated incidents I the memoir when God is called upon multiple times and never answers. The author also develops his theme when some hope comes to him throughout his painful journey. An example of this would be when Elie and his father were separated when they went to get their hair cut after they arrived to the camp, “Freed from the hands of the barbers, we began to wander in the crowd, meeting friends and acquaintances. These meetings filled us with joy---‘Thank God! You’re still alive!’”(page.23). During this novel God was praised only when hope and thankfulness occurred, but he wasn’t praised when all of the Jews were still struggling.

The authors use of literary elements in this novel were excellent. The literary elements in this story gave the readers an emotional connection to his writing and also created a haunting mental picture for me personally. The use of these elements contribute to the readability because they engage readers like myself who sympathize with those who experience cruel torture for no reason at all. One of the most powerful literary elements I found to be the most powerful was imagery, “From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me”(page.77). That quote was the most powerful to me because of the picture it created in my mind. I was able to picture the author at my age in the mirror. Skinny, exhausted, and dead-looking.

Internal and External Conflict

Internal Conflict

External Conflict

Motif

Motif


45 % of the blame for the Holocaust is Hitler’s fault because he instilled the idea of hatred into millions of people and abused his authority to murder thousands of innocent people.

10% of the blame for the Holocaust is the Residents of Auschwitz and Yahweh/God. The residents of Auschwitz and other towns near the concentration camps are to blame because they were only concerned for their own well being and safety and not the lives of innocent men, women, and children . Yahweh/God is to blame because he was silent while Hitler was committing the largest sin ever known to man. He is also to blame because his people were crying out to him in their time of need and he ignored their pleas.

8% of the blame is the Non- Jewish Europeans because of the fear of their own safety and not helping their Jewish friends by uniting and revolting against Hitler’s evil schemes.

6% of the blame is the Jews that did not try to escape their imprisonment. Even though it is understandable to be in fear and try to cooperate with the system, but the treatment was torture and abuse that should require a revolt.

5% of the blame is the Minor Nazi Soldiers and the Leaders of Allies. The Minor Nazi soldiers are to blame because they murdered thousands of Jews and didn’t even know why or question why. The Leaders of the other Allied countries are to blame because they allowed the mass murder to continue until they thought it had gotten “out of hand”

4% of the blame is the SS Officers that created the torture and extermination plans for Hitler, because of their ignorance and easily convinced minds, they created a plan of torture and murder for the poor Jews to encounter.

3% of the blame goes to the Churches of all denominations that did nothing to stop the Holocaust. Since all the churches have most of the same beliefs when it came to the Holocaust they were silent. While Hitler and his Nazi Party were breaking one of the 10 commandments “Thou Shall Not Kill” none of the churches tried to help the Jewish victims.

2% of the blame is the German citizens who voted for Hitler. Although 2% of it is their fault the whole blame shouldn’t be on them because they did not know Hitler was going to create mass murder and they thought he would be able to help their economically and morally depressed country.

Elie’s Travels

Ukraine

Poland

Germany

Czech

republic

Austria Romania