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Symbolism In Night By Elie Wiesel

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Elie Wiesel mentioned in his Novel "Night" that the prisoners came from a religious community, ¨The Jew of Sighet¨ (p. 3). Yom Kippur was a solemn Jew religious holiday where adults abstained from eating and drinking for long hours, except for sick people, children, pregnant women, or those who gave birth. Jews sought forgiveness of their sins by fasting. Even In a non-ordinary situation like the death camp, some Jews believed that they needed to fast more than any other day to clean their soul and seek forgiveness from God. They could not give away everything and became nonbelievers regardless of the horrific circumstances, especially for Elie, who learned and studied his religion at an early age, ¨ I studied Talmud, and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the …show more content…

``Jew was henceforth forbidden to own gold, jewelry, or any valuables``(p. 10-11), but they kept their faith and prayer from the beginning when Germany's soldiers showed up in their small town. People get their strength from prayer and from believing in God, which made them survive the eighth day of Passover, ``The synagogues were no longer open. People gathered in private homes`` (p. 10), and ``Almost every rabbi's home became a house of prayer`` (p. 10). Prayer united Jews and gave them the power to stay strong. When Jews witnessed the crematorium, ``some began to recite kaddish`` (p. 33). They remembered God, even though they were walking to potential death. For instance, Ellie stated, ``the prayer for death``(p. 33), which seems not expected. Furthermore, mourners showed greatness to God regardless of the horrific tragedy. Religion was everything and the only thing Jews had to survive. For example, when they arrived in Birkenau and felt a little safe, they were jumping for joy, and the first thing they did was thank God for saving them ``Every encounter filled us with joy-yes, joy: Thank God, You are alive!`` (p.

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Strength overcomes weakness People have to have something to believe in during tough times otherwise they will not be able to survive. During the holocaust, many Jewish people were stripped of their clothes, identities, and basic human rights. Survivors of the Holocaust often talk about something they found to be able to keep them alive. They often talk about if they didn't have that source of strength or perseverance they would not be here today.

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Faith in God, however, gave meaning to existence to prisoners. Some of them worshipped. Keeping an exemplary religious life in the concentration camp was a heroic act of resistance against the oppressor; Although God was indifferent to the fate of the Jews, however, the Germans tried to destroy the humanity of their victims, so the only way to show-not contempt and hatred of the enemy was the participation in the

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Jews were sent on death marches during this time by the Nazis. These marches led to mass death and destruction. This is seen when Elie Wiesel feels they are “strongest creatures alive” and they can “deny the desire to die” (Wiesel 107). In believing they are the strongest and can live forever through these harsh conditions, gives them a sense of hope that they will get out alive and

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This shows that even though the people in the holocaust are going through hard times they still have beliefs in god which motivates them to keep

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In the beginning stages of the Holocaust, Elie maintained a good but shaky connection with God. When Elie, his father, and many other Jews were being marched into what would be their certain death. Elie, although he did not want to, began unconsciously reciting the Kaddish, or the Jewish prayer for the dead. “Deep

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Prisoners in Auschwitz received about three “meals” a day. Half a liter of “coffee” for breakfast, and a liter of soup for the noon meal. For dinner, the prisoners usually received about 10 ounces of black bread, with 25 grams of sausage or margarine, or a tablespoon of marmalade of cheese. The small amount of food prisoners got in concentration camps caused them to starve. In the story, Night, the absence of food caused Eliezer and others around him to slowly change themselves and their morales, hoping for a little extra soup or a crust of bread.

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The second “kiss” from God Elie received was in the Rabbi’s words. When his life began to progressively become worse in the camps moments like the ones in the ghettos were not common; he began to become more despair. The book Night states, “He was the only rabbi whom nobody ever failed to address as "Rabbi" in Buna. He looked like one of those prophets of old, always in the midst of his people when they needed to be consoled. And, strangely, his words never provoked anyone.

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Unfortunately, under their circumstances, death was so common that after only three days they had forgotten. Saying kaddish (a prayer) was a way to honor and pray for his passing. Praying and participating in religious activities was something that brought their community together, even in the camps. Wiesel

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In conclusion, in the memoir Night, Elie Wiesel utilizes the suffering and adversity of Jews during the Holocaust in order to present how when faith in God is lost, a person can continue to progress in life or not, but they will only be able to if they have hope and faith in themselves. The book illustrates that without God, one must still be able to live a satiated life and be able to procure self-motivation. In the lives of Jews during the Holocaust, as well as people today, no matter what religion one has faith in, when faith in that is lost due to hardships, one must be able to find hope in other places. This is not to say that following a religion is useless, but instead to relay the message that in addition to faith in something else,

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In the 1956 memoir Night, by Elie Wiesel, he illustrates that witnessing human cruelty was his traumatizing memory of the Holocaust. Weisel supports his illustration through the use of symbolism, which demonstrates that witnessing human cruelty had more effect on him that anything else he will ever experience. He uses the flames that he saw as a symbol for the atrocities that he saw, because the flames themselves were the first example of cruelty that he ever witnessed. The author’s purpose is to explain why he will never forget “that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night”, so that the reader can understand the consequences of cruelty. Instead of simply stating that the cruelty he witnessed tore his dreams

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“...live normally, enjoy a fine meal and a glass of wine, as the world around us experiences harrowing upheavals?” he asks. “Do we sit around in our luxury while everyone else goes through hell? Denying their humanity makes us forget our own. But must I stress that during the concentration camps, the Jewish people felt that God was no longer with them and was ignoring them?

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The title Night is a symbol itself. Just thinking about the word “night” one thinks of darkness, particularly the darkness of the concentration camp. The title itself symbolizes the loss of hope, the loss of honor, and the loss of the human soul. In chapter three of the memoir, Elie Wiesel talks about his first night in Birkenau.

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Furthermore, Auschwitz stripped victims of their beliefs, their faith, and their hope for any future. During the earlier stages of his time in Auschwitz, Wiesel witnessed people reciting Kaddish. Kaddish is a sacred prayer in Judaism which recognizes the greatness of God. It is said when someone dies to show the strength of one’s faith despite the loss. After Wiesel’s departure from Auschwitz, “The dead

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