It is commonly known that a number of crimes and offenses are committed during the night. The shrouding darkness commonly associated with this word is perfect; for anyone planning on doing anything malicious, that is. However, this darkness is not only limited to just the time of day with a low presence of visible light, it can hold a much sinister definition. Night by Elie Wiesel is a perfect portrayal of this; right in the title itself. The use of the word night suggests that the nature of the events within the Holocaust survivors memoir went undetected - left behind in the dark - like the night, and how the theme of struggle, hopelessness, and darkness, which are prevalent throughout the book, portray it.
The general significance of the title represents the books harrowing terror of the Holocaust as told by Wiesel. In it, he writes “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed” (Wiesel, Night). The chosen quotation explains the dread and anguish felt by not only Elie Wiesel himself, but also the others experiencing that first night in camp with him. It develops a sense of utter misery and helplessness, one that is swallowing every prisoner whole and will likely seal their fate. A misery presented
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Such as when Wiesel would write about SS guards selecting prisoners for extermination. He writes, “The night was long and never-ending. The morning would never come… The SS would come, select, and leave” (Wiesel, Night). This excerpt both has a literal and metaphorical meaning behind Wiesel’s choice in the title, Night. It mentions the inhumanity performed during the literal night, with SS guards executing prisoners; metaphorically meaning how dark the entire procedure was and the suffering of all affected by