Night By elie Wiesel
Night is a novel about Elizer (Elie) experiences during the Holocaust. This is a book that makes you keep reading, and makes you feel all the emotions. As you read, you'll be taken through his life as a fourteen year old living through hard times where you don't have hope for a way out. Strong on religion, Elie tells you his journey. This novel has been translated by his wife. The book follows his life from a child to him growing up and going through all the concentration camps.
Setting
Night is set in 1941–1945, during World War II. The story begins in Sighet, Transylvania (now part of Romania). The book then follows his journey through several concentration camps in Europe: Auschwitz/Birkenau (in a part of modern-day Poland that had been annexed by Germany in 1939), Buna (a camp that was part of the Auschwitz complex), Gleiwitz (also in Poland but annexed by Germany), and Buchenwald (Germany).
Mood
The mood of Night is gloomy. Through the entire book there is a sense of despair. The experience itself is terrible - there is always fear present but gloom is more prominent. With the book mostly set in winter, that adds to the gloom of the book. You can't help but feel the gloom through the entire book.
Theme
The theme of the book is actually very noticeable throughout the entire book. Some themes can include Eliezer’s struggle to maintain faith in a benevolent God; silence; inhumanity toward other humans; the importance of father-son bonds. These themes are thrown at you in many different ways in a sense where you can't help but take notice to them.
Literary Devices
Personification- Describing non human things with human characteristics.
"Around me everything was dancing a dance of death. It made my head reel" (84).
Irony- The irony in Night occured on the boat when the lady was throwing coins to some poor children. Wiesel noticed that a small fight ensued between two of them. He begged the woman to stop, to which she replied, "Why not, I like to give charity" (95).
Simile- A comparison using like or as. "He looked us over as if we were a pack of leprous dogs hanging onto our lives."
Foreshadowing- Something that is used to show a warning or indication of a future event. "Jews, listen to me! I can see a fire! There are huge flames! It is a furnace."
Symbolism- The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. "So much has happened within such a few hours that I had lost all sense of time. When had we left our houses? And the ghetto? And the train? Was it only a week? One night- one single night" (34)
"Around me everything was dancing a dance of death. It made my head reel" (84).
Irony- The irony in Night occured on the boat when the lady was throwing coins to some poor children. Wiesel noticed that a small fight ensued between two of them. He begged the woman to stop, to which she replied, "Why not, I like to give charity" (95).
Simile- A comparison using like or as. "He looked us over as if we were a pack of leprous dogs hanging onto our lives."
Foreshadowing- Something that is used to show a warning or indication of a future event. "Jews, listen to me! I can see a fire! There are huge flames! It is a furnace."
Symbolism- The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. "So much has happened within such a few hours that I had lost all sense of time. When had we left our houses? And the ghetto? And the train? Was it only a week? One night- one single night" (34)
Other elements
Element 1: Simile: They went by, fallen, dragging their packs, dragging their lives, deserting their homes, the years of their childhood, cringing like beaten dogs.
Element 2: Foreshadowing: Moshe the Beadle escapes an earlier train to return to the ghetto to tell "the story of his own death."
Element 2: Foreshadowing: Moshe the Beadle escapes an earlier train to return to the ghetto to tell "the story of his own death."
Characters
Here is a list of the characters.
- Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel (main character)
- Chlomo Wiesel
- Mrs. Wiesel
- Hilda Wiesel
- Beatrice Wiesel
- Tzipora Wiesel
- Batya Reich
- Stein of Antwerp
- Moshe the Beadle
- Berkovitz
- Madame Kahn
- Stern
- The Hungarian Police Inspector
- Maria
- Madam Schachter
- Bela Katz
- Yechiel
- Akiba Drumer
- Juliek
- Louis
- Hans
- Franek
- Yossi and Tibi
- Alphonse
- The French Jewess
- The Young Thief from Warsaw
- Dutch Oberkapo of the 52nd Cable Unit
- The Pipel
- Elie's Blockaelteste
- The Rabbi
- The Hospitalized from a Little Town in Poland
- The Jewish Doctor
- Zalman
- Rabbi Eliahou
- Eliahou's Song
- Meir
- Meir Katz
- Dr. Joesef Mengele
- Idek
- Idek
- The Dentist from Czechoslovakia
- The Dentist from Warsaw
if you liked night, then you'll like these!
If you liked Night you might want to try some of the books below!
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- Alicia: My Story
- Things We Couldn't Say
- Treblinka