Symbolism In Night By Elie Wiesel

844 Words4 Pages

The infamous Yin and Yang symbol, a balance between good and evil. There isn’t one without the other. Balance is the way it’s intended, for everything to be equal. However this is simply not accurate, nothing is perfect, the balance can tip towards any side. For some there is more light than there is darkness. And for others, there’s suffering, despair, and depression. For Elie Wiesel, there was nothing but dread. As he wrote in his book, Night, he and millions of others would be forced to trudge through the horrors of the Holocaust. Nothing but darkness. But not because he was sorrowful, not at all, but because he was forced. Forced by the world around him. Only through his symbolism and vivid imagery can we understand the positive and negative …show more content…

Elie wanted nothing but to practice his religion and learn more of his faith. He would regularly, “read, over and over again, the same page of the Zohar. Not to learn it by heart but to discover within the very essence of divinity, “ (Wiesel 5). His life was his religion, simple really. This was the thing that he loved the most. His questions and curiosity about his religion was something that motivated him even during confusing and worrying times. His religion supplied him with hope, hope that his god would save him and his people. It would take a lot for him to slip away, even for a second. But soon, he’d witness the true nightmares of society and would be forced to make a …show more content…

However Elie was lucky enough to be paired with his father for the majority of his time in the Holocaust. There are many occasions where Elie had said that if his father wasn’t there, he would’ve just ended it all. In one scene described by Elie, him and others running during an evacuation to a nearby camp, he could’ve easily fallen out of line and been shot quickly, only there was one thing stopping him, “My father’s presence was the only thing that stopped me,” (Wiesel 86). His father provided the only bit of comfort throughout his time, and in a place such as Auschwitz comfort was an extremely scarce commodity. Without his father, Elie would’ve fallen victim to the horrendous torture and would’ve most likely died, whether that be by the hands of another or by his own. However the light given by his father would soon fade, and Elie would be left alone in a void of