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How Is Figurative Language Used In Night By Elie Wiesel

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In 1941 through 1945 there were many atrocities happening at once which destroyed many places around the world during World War II, but there is one specific event that impacted Europe by terrorizing many people, which was the Holocaust. At just 15 years old Elie Wiesel, author of the memoir Night witnessed the Holocaust first-hand, and he realized that it was vital to share his story with the world so people would be aware of what happened and avoid repeating mistakes in the future. In the memoir Night, Elie Wiesel uses imagery, hyperbole, and personification to make the story more realistic for the readers. These 3 types of figurative language help the reader to understand the experience that Elie and the Jewish community went through. The true story Night uses multiple of literary devices to help …show more content…

On page 28, Wiesel uses that figurative language when he describes “A wretched stench floated in the air.” This quote is a good example of imagery because it describes what the true horror Elie experienced. The second type of figurative language Wiesel uses in his memoir is hyperbole. On page 57, he uses that figurative language when he describes “I wanted to run away, but my feet were nailed to the floor.” This quote is a good example of hyperbole because it illustrates how Elie felt to help readers understand and imagine the scene more clearly. The third type of figurative language Wiesel uses in his writing is personification. On page 14, this figurative language is used when he describes “The shadows around me roused themselves as if from a deep sleep and left silently in every direction.” This evidence is a strong example of personification because it describes the tension in the room to help readers understand this part of the story on a deeper level. By using a variety of figurative languages in his memoir, Elie Wiesel was able to make the story more realistic and detailed for the

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175 Words | 1 Pages

He uses these things by telling us his personal story from the holocaust. But unfortunately Elie Wiesel died on July 2nd, 2016. Wiesel appeals to the audience’s emotions with imagery and he does this throughout the whole book. He appeals to our emotions by making us see him as a human body unlike the SS officers and German soldiers did and lets us know that it is never ok to treat other humans like the jews were treated. It also

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711 Words | 3 Pages

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).

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456 Words | 2 Pages

“ I succeeded in digging a hole in that wall of dead and dying people.” This shows a disturbing tone by describing and painting a picture for the readers to visualize what the Nazi made him do. Another sense Wiesel used was touch. “ I scratched, I fought for a breath of air.” This is also showing a disturbing tone because it shows how the Jews had to fight just to take a breath of air and that they are struggling just to survive.

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1135 Words | 5 Pages

In two years, 1.1 million people were starved, beaten, and murdered by the Nazi party in just Auschwitz's concentration camp alone; there were at least twenty-seven main camps. Arguments have arisen regarding whether Night by Eli Weisel, a memoir that depicts such horrific acts, is appropriate or necessary for high schoolers to read. A written work such as Night prevents the repetition of history when read and analyzed by the new generations due to its blatant language regarding the events that took place. Throughout Night, Wiesel's overt and figurative language allows the reader to fully understand the horrible events he first-handedly experienced.

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455 Words | 2 Pages

Wiesel uses imagery to expose the reader to the unsettled mood there is. “Behind the black gate of Auschwitz.” “Wrapped in their torn blankets, they would sit or lie on the ground, staring vacantly into space.” “And that ship, which was already on the shores of the united states, was sent back.” (Wiesel).

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729 Words | 3 Pages

78 years ago, an event that killed millions occurred, known as the Holocaust. It involved German Nazis torturing and mass murdering European Jews over the span of about 12 years. Although there are many stories and novels about the Holocaust, one stands apart from the others. The title of this book is “Night”, by Elie Wiesel. In this short novel, Wisiel tells the story of his life as a teen boy living in fear of the Nazis and his traumatizing experiences.

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492 Words | 2 Pages

There are many examples of rhetorical devices and strategies presented within this speech, but the few that stand out the most are the use of pathos, anaphoras, and point of view. Elie Wiesel utilizes these rhetorical strategies throughout the speech to make the audience feel guilty as well as to come to an understanding of the atrocious events that occurred. Elie Wiesel structures the speech to move people and hopefully create peace activists like himself. Elie begins the speech by describing how a young boy who should be ignorant of most evils had come to know pain and anguish for the prematurely.

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1013 Words | 5 Pages

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. " Hope and an optimistic attitude are characteristics of a rational and humane mindset. Documenting how these ideals change throughout a period of time in writing can be done through various means of rhetoric including figurative language. In Elie Wiesel 's personal memoir Night, he incorporates similes and metaphors to effectively convey how the victims ' humanity deteriorated throughout the course of the Holocaust. Wiesel 's figurative language at the beginning of the novel conveys how the Jewish people followed commendable politesse and practiced reasonable behavior early on in the Holocaust.

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1060 Words | 5 Pages

“To the anti-Semitic Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Jews were an inferior race, an alien threat to German racial purity and community. After years of rule in Germany, during which Jews were consistently persecuted, Hitler’s “final solution”–now known as the Holocaust–came to fruition under the cover of world war, with mass killing centers constructed in the concentration camps of occupied Poland.” (“The Holocaust”). Many Jews did happen to survive the Holocaust and many decided to share their story with the whole world. Elie Wiesel’s story Night is an autobiography about his experience as a Jew back when the Holocaust was taking place.

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931 Words | 4 Pages

It is a common assumption among numerous people in the world that the Holocaust never existed. In fact, almost fifty percent of the world population never even heard of the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel helped people around the world learn about the Holocaust through his book “Night.” He wanted people to see the bravery, courage, and guilt of the Jews through his book. “Night” shows the horrific and malicious acts in the German concentration camps during the Holocaust.

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1097 Words | 5 Pages

He often employs metaphors to lend meaning to the abstract and usually elusive aspect of memory. Maybe the most remarkable metaphor of his speech is to refer to the Holocaust as "the kingdom of night. " With these words, the intense darkness and despair of the Holocaust experience were couched. He describes this as a kingdom; thus, Wiesel underlines that this period is more like a realm that is heavily populated and underscored by a regime of cruelty and inhumanity. This is a powerful enough metaphor to make the audience realize entirely the emotional and psychological burden of the Holocaust, and the need for remembrance becomes evident.

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978 Words | 4 Pages

Wiesel often uses complex similes to advance the plot of his memoir and add a meaningful perspective to the idea of what it means to be human in a psychological and emotional sense. For example, towards the beginning of the memoir, in the cattle car on the way to Auschwitz, Wiesel utilizes figurative language to describe the condition of the Jewish prisoners as being infected with madness: “Our very skin was aching. It was as though madness had infected all of us. We gave up.

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840 Words | 4 Pages

“Man-made nightmare” is an oxymoron, simply because a nightmare is figuratively created in the mind, and man-made is physical and real in the sense that it is outside in the real world. A “Human Earthquake” is a metaphor, because an earthquake is a physical trauma created when the Earth splits, and not something a human is capable of achieving. “Draw us apart” and “Draw us together” is antithesis, being two direct opposites contrasting each other in the same sentence to achieve a point. There are many others, but judging on just these examples, one can infer that the language being carefully chosen by Wiesel is powerful and effective with his claims. This also goes for the syntax: The choppy, shprt sentences create a rushed and almost anxious tone, as it should be through such a traumatic event.

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661 Words | 3 Pages

Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night tells the personal tale of his account of the inhumanity and brutality the Nazis showed during the Holocaust. Night depicts the story of a young Jew from the small town of Sighet named Eliezer. Wiesel and his family are deported to the concentration camp known as Auschwitz. He must learn to survive with his father’s help until he finds liberation from the horror of the camp. This memoir, however, hides a greater lesson that can only be revealed through careful analyzation.

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552 Words | 3 Pages

Wiesel brings out syntax for the ending of his speech but also incorporates pathos wrapping it all back together with the sadness and pity on all of us for the harmful silence done to the jews in the holocaust. Syntax was the most obvious rhetorical device used because you can physically see how it is being presented differently than the rest but also sending a message and not being so formal about it. Pathos was a very huge part to Wiesel’s whole entire speech as he was constantly trying to turn everyones thoughts and perspectives to what he was exactly seeing in his own eyes. Elie Wiesel wanted to show the world the horrible act of indifference and how it has personally affected him as a child and for his whole life growing up. Wiesel manages to create many viewpoints and to throw us in his shoes for us to understand the inhumanity of the ones had no sympathy towards the jews during the holocaust.

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