Symbols In Night By Elie Wiesel

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In the book, Night, Wiesel uses a bell as a motif to show the loss of faith caused by a state of struggle from the Holocaust. Something so small as a bell has so much power over the Jews. After the SS officers called the prisoners to order the bell rang that ordered the prisoners what to do like they were robots. Elie expresses how much power the bell had over him and the prisoners and that “[The bell] gave me orders and I executed them blindly.” (p. 73) The bell is so small and insignificant but holds so much power over the Jews and Elie. Elie is annoyed that something like the bell controls him, but something he believes should hold power like his God has no power or control over the situation. This leads to a loss of faith for everyone in the camp. When the prisoners are being called to order, a loud bell rings regulating everything, the selection is over. Elie …show more content…

Elie uses the word “night” to show not only the darkness of the Holocaust but how the Jews feel trapped they feel “pressed against the bars to see. There was nothing. Only the darkness of night.” (p 25) Elie is using “night” to show the darkness and what the Jews actually went through during the holocaust. The “darkness of night” suggests the pressure evil of the world and the absence of hope. Elie and everyone that was in the camp with him was not only physically changed but mentally. After they get liberated and when the “gates… opened …an even darker night was waiting for us.” (p. 54) Even though the prisoners have physically left the concentration camp. Their experiences stripped the “day” out of them and all they see is night. They are still mentally at the camp because of their experiences. Wiesel uses night as a metaphor to show the struggle and darkness during the holocaust. “Night” is a universal symbol of everything as it represents trauma and