Rhetorical Devices In Night By Elie Wiesel

Eliana Smith Mrs. Boland ELA II H 19, May 2024 Elie Wiesel’s use of Rhetorical devices in “Night”.

Hope is resilient, but will eventually give out. In the book “Night” by Elie Wiesel, Elie uses rhetorical devices, imagery, paradox, and irony to illustrate how the Holocaust deteriorated his, and his fellow Jews’ hope. Specifically his use of imagery during the hangings, when Elie stopped believing in God, losing hope in a higher power saving him. Also his use of paradox when Juliek plays the violin in the barracks, and when he is dead in the morning. Then, his use of irony when the new year begins with a selection. In his book, Wiesle uses imagery to develop his message that hope is strong, but will fail eventually. One of the hangings Wiesel witnessed during the

“A violin in a dark barrack where the dead were piled on top of the living? Who was this madman who played the violin here, at the edge of his own grave? Never before had I heard such a beautiful sound. In such silence. All I could hear was the violin, and it was as if Juliek’s soul had become his bow.” (Wiesel 94-95) The beautiful sound of the music comforted Elie, and gave him hope, even if just for a second. There was beauty and peace that contradicts the death and despair found in the barracks, as well as the fear and panic of being suffocated by dead bodies. Elie then fell asleep. He writes, “When I awoke at daybreak, I saw Juliek facing me, hunched over, dead. Next to him lay his violin, trampled, an eerily poignant little corpse.” (Wiesel 95) His hope was dead, along with Juliek. As the day begins, and the sun begins to shine, Elie finds that Juliek, the violin player, is dead, his life having ended. Elie also uses irony to develop his message that hope will eventually fail. After months of being in camp Aushwitz Elie says that “The SS offered us a beautiful present for the new year. As we passed the camp’s entrance, we sensed something out of the ordinary in the air.