Elie Wiesel Symbolism In Night

The Holocaust was the persecution and massacre of six million prisoners in the hands of the Nazi’s. One of the many prisoners that were sent to these death camps was Elie Wiesel. Elie Wiesel was 15 years old when he was first entered the most famous concentration camp, Auschwitz. He was painfully unaware of the torture he would encounter but fought for survival and succeeded. In his personal memoir Night, Elie Wiesel uses characterization, figurative language and symbolism to bring to light what happened to him and the other prisoners at these horrid death camps. Elie Wiesel uses characterization and the dramatic internal effect that the Holocaust had on him and other prisoners to truly show how brutal the camps were. Wiesel started as a …show more content…
One of the main symbols in Night is night. Night and darkness represented Wiesel’s suffering because night is seen as evil, unknown and deadly. Wiesel recalled how it felt as if it was always night in the camps, saying how, "the days were like nights, and the nights left the dregs of their darkness in our souls" (100). Wiesel uses the symbol of corpses repeatedly in Night, he uses it in a way to not only express literal death, but also to represent internal death. After the hanging of the Pipel, Wiesel wrote, “That night, the soup tasted of corpses” (65). In this situation the symbol of a corpse can be perceived as the literal death of the Pipel, but also the death of God. Again at the end of the book after the Holocaust, Wiesel wrote about his reflection in the mirror and how it seemed that, “from the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me.” (115). The fact that he saw himself as a corpse can symbolize that the holocaust killed his soul, and took his innocence and faith in anything good. The hanging of the angelic pipel is also used as symbol in Night. It symbolizes the cruelty of the SS and how they will kill anyone without remorse including “the little pipel, the sad-eyed angel” (64). This also symbolizes the faith of Wiesel and other prisoners like him and how they lose faith in a God that is letting such horrible things happen to an innocent …show more content…
The Holocaust's terrible conditions caused many prisoners to lose their humanity and become exactly how the SS were treating them, animals. Wiesel’s use of figurative language contributed to the story and made it become something of nightmares. Lastly he uses dark symbols like night, corpses and the hanging of the pipel to truly show the effects of this genocide. By effectively using stylistic elements Wiesel is able to achieve his purpose of sharing the horrors of the