Figurative Language In Night

“His eyes would suddenly go blank leaving two gaping wounds, two wells of terror” (Wiesel 75), is a rousing example of the horror Elie Wiesel portrays in Night by using imagery. Elie uses layers of figurative language to help facilitate the meaning of the text beyond its literal interpretation and enhances the reader's experience. Not only does his use of figurative language produce vivid imagery to draw in readers, it also accurately portrays his primary account of the dismay he experienced during the holocaust. Night is filled with wonderfully descriptive figurative language to elevate the effect and take the reader on Wiesel’s painfully haunting and incomprehensible journey. Likewise, in the novel Night, Elie portrays his firsthand

A simile is a form of figurative language that uses the word “like” or “as” to make a comparison. An effective simile can tell a lot about a character or scenario. Early on in Wiesel’s book, he describes Moishe as “Physically, he was awkward as a clown. His waiflike shyness made people smile” (3). Directly comparing Moishe to a clown gives the reader a vivid description of someone who acts playfully and isn’t taken seriously. His “waiflike” physicality also helps convey his awkward characteristics. Wiesel uses this literary device to allow the readers to experience the characters in his novel and interpret them rather than telling them. When Wiesel states “They think I am mad,” he whispered, and tears, like drops of wax, flowed from his eyes” (7). He is comparing Moishe’s tears to burning wax which is painful and you can feel Moishe’s pain from the shock that no one takes him seriously as he tries in vain to warn everyone of their impending danger. The reader can’t help but sympathize and feel his personal turmoil which is conveyed in this simile. The truth of what was coming was too unbelievable and unfortunately treated like a joke and ignored. No one was prepared to believe the truth could be that horrific. To date, it is still hard to comprehend what happened in those camps and the truth is heartbreaking. Due to the remarkable similes Wiesel used in his

Metaphors are forms of figurative language used to imply a comparison. Night is full of haunting metaphors which reveal Wiesel’s Faith in God being challenged throughout this heart-wrenching memoir. Wiesel compares his persecution to the desolate desert when he states “We were withered trees in the heart of the desert” (37). Wiesel and his fellow prisoners’ faith was drying up like the desert whose environment is a death sentence without water. Their bodies and faith already withering away from their mistreatment and yet they unknowingly had so much more ahead of them in terms of their persecution. How could they continue to endure this and keep their faith in God? The word ‘heart’ is also an interesting choice as there appears to be no heart or God present in the depths of their suffering. Wiesel’s waning faith in God is eloquently conveyed when he hears someone ask “For God’s sake, where is God?” after they were forced to watch a child be hung and suffer a long painful death. The German’s didn’t even have the decency to kill the child quickly. Wiesel response is “Where He is? This is where – hanging here from the gallows…That night, the soup tasted of corpses” (65). God seems dead to him like the dead child appallingly hanging on display. Death was everywhere, even in the soup, which was often their only pleasure. One’s relationship with God is