Imagery And Symbolism In Night By Elie Wiesel

In 1943, during World War II, there was a mass genocide of the Jewish population. Many people in the concentration camps had lost everything from clothes to family to names. These people who after losing everything, gave up, lost their lives. But those who continued putting one foot in front of the other, made it through to the end. Elie Wiesel, a young boy at the time, has lived to tell the world about his experiences in Auschwitz. In his Holocaust memoir, Night, Elie Wiesel uses imagery and motif to develop the idea of power and perseverance of the human spirit.

Elie Wiesel while in the concentration camps often times wanted to give up, but continued to push forward for his father's sake. “He was playing his life. The whole of his life was

“‘Father, how are you?’ I asked as soon as I could utter a word” (Wiesel 69). Juliek when he is playing is not only thinking about himself, but also of the people around him as they slowly die. Elie and His father are pushing to stay together because they are all each other have left. Father and son must stick together. Elie and his father struggle through hard times, but together they still manage to push through. Each time the prisoners come to a close call with their lives, Elie and his father manage to find a way to stay together. “My father was sent to the left. I ran after him. An SS officer shouted at my back: 'Come back here!' I slipped in among the others. Several SS rushed to bring me back, creating such a confusion that many people were able to come back to the right-and among them, my father and myself” (Wiesel 71). There is great confusion, fear, and suspense as the prisoners who are selected to go to the crematoriums stand there waiting, and then there is relief as the prisoners were able to move back into the "safe" group. Once again father and son can stay together and their bod continue to grow stronger and stronger as they encounter and persevere through each new hardship. Elie's father was sentenced to death and yet, both Elie and his father managed to push onward to not only stay together, but also to move back to the side in which they at least had a chance at survival. In this case it was Elie