Figurative language is a powerful tool that can assist readers by facilitating the meaning of the text beyond its actual meaning and contrasting the horrors of the Holocaust to something that the reader can relate to or has experienced. The Holocaust was a systematic persecution organized by the Nazi state and its allies from 1933 to 1945. The killings of 6 million Jews occurred across Europe. Personification, symbolism, and similes can all be used to help the average person understand and empathize with those who have gone through the Holocaust.
Readers are more likely to understand and feel connected to texts and descriptions with personification because they can recognize the human-like qualities and traits being used and portrayed in the text. In the novel Night, as Elie Wiesel tries waking up one of his father’s
…show more content…
By comparing the atrocities of the Holocaust to something that the reader can relate to or has experienced, similes can help create a deeper emotional connection and understanding of the events. The poem, Homesick, talks about the author returning home. The author states, “Here the weak die fast as a feather” (2). Feathers are easy to destroy and pull apart, those who were weak during the Holocaust were easy to get rid of and destroy. In the novel, Night, by Elie Wiesel, as the wind blows violently, Elie’s block was marching, he states “I was putting one foot in front of the other, like a machine” (85). The simile shows how Wiesel feels more inhumane and like a machine, rather than a human. Wiesel uses a simile to convey the idea that he was detaching from the control of his own body, as well as from the strong emotions that he was feeling at this time. By Weisel comparing himself to an emotionless object, it allows the reader to fully understand and paint an image in their mind of what Weisel is feeling and going