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Significance Of Eyes In Night By Elie Wiesel

641 Words3 Pages

Eyes are usually happy or bright, lighting up, but they can also be a glimpse into utter darkness. Through the memoir, Night, we are shown images countless times of eyes. In the concentration camps we see instances of eyes portraying the darkness of the Holocaust. Throughout Elie’s time in the concentration camp, he and his father struggled against the darkness threatening to engulf them. This can represent both the darkness within us, and surrounding us. By ruthlessly killing, starving, and depriving them of the necessities to live, we see how truly awful the Nazis were. Used to show the brutal mistreatment of Jews, eyes symbolize the inhumane treatment, the ruthless killing, and the complete loss of hope brought on the the Nazis during the …show more content…

The eyes of the Jews and the Nazis reveal who the person truly is. In the beginning of the book, the people of Sighet were happy. As time passes, and the reality of their situation began to darken, “in everyone’s eyes, [there was] tears and distress” (Wiesel, 17). As the book progresses, we begin to see everybody lose hope. They now have “tired eyes” (75), as the darkness is beginning to overcome them. As the Nazis starve, beat, and murder the Jews, their indescribable anguish is seen as their “eyes would suddenly go blank,” with no emotion left in them. (76) The Jews were tormented, and we begin to gain more of an understanding of this as we see the emotion in their eyes be swallowed by darkness. Throughout the course of the Holocaust, millions of Jews were murdered. We see this from Elie’s point of view as he endured the suffering of the concentration camps. As “the darkness enveloped” those still living, they were being strangled by the impending darkness. (95) Death surrounded them, and “[their lives] into one long night night seven times sealed.” …show more content…

The Nazis eyes, “shining with greed,” continued to bring their wrath down upon the thousands of imprisoned Jews (55). As a sense of gloomy dejection trailed behind the prisoners, they were barely able to cope with their situation. Akiba Drumer, a fellow prisoner in Buna completely gave up all sense of hope.When he was nearing his death, “his eyes would suddenly go blank, leaving two gaping wounds, two wells of terror” (76). These wounds can be seen as the emptiness left behind by the Nazis, and the vacant wells of terror as the dehumanization. Even Elie became fascinated by “the idea of dying,” during his seemingly endless run through the snow. (86) Anguish and hopelessness are displayed through one’s eyes as a window into their thoughts and

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In the beginning of the book Night Elie describes himself as someone who believes profoundly. One way that Auschwitz and/or other campers have affected this by, putting him down, watching innocent people die by getting either shot or hanged in front of his little eyes. In the first chapter of Night the quote, “Why did I pray? Strange question.

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In Elie Weisel’s Memoir Night, The motif that stands out the most is eyes. The reason why is because in books eyes are usually not the main word that is used to describe different emotions and actions. Eyes are used in many interesting ways such as describing a person’s emotion, similes, and when eyes are used they can self-explain the reason for their significance in the sentence. Eyes in night are put in sentences, and can give imagery to what is currently happening in the memoir. Other ways eyes are used well as a motif, is when it is used to describe an emotion, but the way that eyes are used, can make the reader already know how that person is feeling, just by how eyes are represented in the sentence.

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In the novel, “Night” Elie Wiesel communicates with the readers his thoughts and experiences during the Holocaust. Wiesel describes his fight for survival and journey questioning god’s justice, wanting an answer to why he would allow all these deaths to occur. His first time subjected into the concentration camp he felt fear, and was warned about the chimneys where the bodies were burned and turned into ashes. Despite being warned by an inmate about Auschwitz he stayed optimistic telling himself a human can’t possibly be that cruel to another human.

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In the book Night, we the readers witness the hardships and struggles in Elie’s life during the traumatic holocaust. The events that take place in this story are unbearable and are thought to be demented in modern times. In the beginning Elie is shown as a normal teenage Jewish boy, but the events are so drastic that we the readers forget how he was like in the beginning. Changes were made to Elie during the book, whether they were minor or major. The changes generated from himself, the journey, and other people.

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As a result of a constant exposure to brutality, Elie nearly forgets the existence of a standard of humanity, since even the smallest acts of kindness are”judged too humane” (44). As Elie’s situation disintegrates from the stable Sighet to the Nazi concentration camp, he develops

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The heart wrenching and powerful memoir “Night” by Elie Wiesel depicts Elie’s struggle through the holocaust. It shows the challenges and struggles Elie and people like him faced during this mournful time, the dehumanization; being forced out of their homes, their towns and sent to nazi concentration camps, being stripped of their belongings and valuables, being forced to endure and witness the horrific events during one of history’s most ghastly tales. In “Night” Elie does not only endure a physical journey but also a spiritual journey as well, this makes him question his determination, faith and strength. This spiritual journey is a journey of self discovery and is shown through Elie’s struggle with himself and his beliefs, his father

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This memoir is a depiction of Eli’s life as a young boy who survived the Holocaust throughout the 40’s. Elie educates and engages his readers by providing very detailed images of the actual events throughout the book. His use of personifications such as, “My throat was dry and the words were choking me, paralyzing my lips” (Wiesel 15), or “Death enveloped me, it suffocated me” (Wiesel 86). helps to keep the reader engaged. From page 15, Elie made sure to overemphasize the situation by using descriptive words.

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First and foremost, the beginning of this story uses eyes very much to describe the life of the Jews before the Nazis struck. Eyes represent happiness as the Jews are satisfied with their way of living. When first even hearing about the Nazis, they are not rattled, but hopeful of the future. In addition, one example of this is Moche the Beadle, who helps teach Elie about life. Elie felt instantly connected to him, as other people were, because of his eyes.

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Continuing on the path to the concentration camp that Elie would soon be held in contempt, he witnessed the burning alive of children and babies. Forever this memory will be scared in his mind and unforgettable. During this time in the night the SS officers and Nazi soldiers caused not only emotional pain for families like Elie’s that had been split up and physical pain for the people who were burn

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“I spent my days in total idleness. With only one desire: to eat. I no longer thought of my father, or my mother.” (Weisel 113) Elie lost many values during his times in Nazi concentration camps, and soon became a person that even he didn’t recognize.

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The severely cruel conditions of concentration camps had a profound impact on everyone who had the misfortune of experiencing them. For Elie Wiesel, the author of Night and a survivor of Auschwitz, one aspect of himself that was greatly impacted was his view of humanity. During his time before, during, and after the holocaust, Elie changed from being a boy with a relatively average outlook on mankind, to a shadow of a man with no faith in the goodness of society, before regaining confidence in humanity once again later in his life. For the first 13 years of his life, Elie seemed to have a normal outlook on humanity.

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But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!” This story told by Elie demonstrates how though Elie was somewhat upset, the first thought that occupied his mind was that there would be one less hungry stomach, and one less mouth to feed. This greatly shows that although Elie wanted to mourn over his father, his current mindset of self preservation and instinct would not allow

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The read experience the painful perspective of young Elie having to survive through immeasurable evil. Both work provide a view of the Holocaust while still resting on the

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His story displays how, though experiences affect decisions, it is the individual who chooses to either find purpose when there does not seem to be a clear objective, or allow one’s anguish to be fruitless. This concept is further explored with psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s idea of logotherapy, and discussed in Elie’s interview with talk show host Oprah Winfrey decades after the Holocaust. In Night, Elie is overwhelmed by his suffering, as he experiences a deprivation of individuality, degradation of faith, and drainage of emotion, but he manages to find a way to channel this affliction into productivity and become a survivor rather than a victim. It is easy to misunderstand how devastating life in a concentration camp was, but through Elie’s loss of identity and distrust in God, the reader can discern the

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In Night one of the ways that the Jews were dehumanized was by abuse. There were beatings, “I never felt anything except the lashes of the whip... Only the first really hurt.” (Wiesel, 57) “They were forced to dig huge trenches. When they had finished their work, the men from the Gestapo began theirs.

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