Figurative Language In Night By Elie Wiesel

In this passage, Elie Wiesel creates a cruel and disturbing tone through the use of word choice and imagery.
The choices Elie made when crafting this passage perfectly depicts the scene in a terrifying manner. He uses this work choice most significantly in the beginning of the passage to describe how drastically the men in the train had been transformed. By using words such as “hurling… trampling… tearing… mauling… animal hate,” and adding phrases like “beasts of prey unleashed”, and “sharpening their teeth and nails” (Wiesel 101), the author is effectively able to completely dehumanize these people, showing the extent of their motivation to obtain what they desire. Furthermore, Elie adds that “a crowd of workmen and curious passersby had formed all along the train. They had undoubtedly never seen a train wit this kind of

When “a piece fell into [his] wagon, [he] decided not to move” (Wiesel 101), setting up a point of view in which Elie was able to spectate upon a specific moment of “an old man dragging himself on all fours.” Looking closer, “he was holding [bread] to his heart… a shadow had lain down beside him, and threw itself over him… the old man way crying: ‘Meir, my little Meir! Don’t you recognize me… you’re killing your father… I have bread… for you too…“ (Wiesel 101-102). The imagery in this scene shows the extent at which these people are willing to go for the smallest amount of sustenance. Wiesel makes the scene even more dramatically traumatizing when he informs the reader that “Two men had been watching him [the son], and jumped him… When they withdrew, there were two dead bodies- the father and the son” (Wiesel 102). I can be argued that this is the most powerful yet disheartening scene in the entire narrative, as the imagery in this passage truly leaves the reader stunned in disbelief and