Throughout the book, I have focused on the theme of the significance “night” had to Elie. Why was this book called Night? What significance did it have to his experience in the concentration camps? What did night symbolize? I thought about this and was struck by a realization: Elie’s life in the concentration camps was almost like an endless night. Darkness. Pain. Grief. Death. All symbolized by the night. Children are afraid of the dark, similar to the Jewish people’s rational fear of concentration camps. The uncertainty of the dark represents the uncertainty of the concentration camps. One moment you are alive and well, the next, your eyes are glazed, body cold, chest still. Maybe children should fear the dark, they should fear the night. This is what I thought, what I believed. I thought that this was all that Night symbolized, but then I realized: Throughout the book, Elie starts losing more and more and more faith in G-d. What if night symbolizes a world without faith? A world without hope? A world without light? Elie can no longer find the presence of G-d. For him, there was nothing to believe in. In these camps, G-d is what gave the victims the faith to cope with the hard living and working conditions, the disease, the death. Elie was stripped of the one thing that defined him, the one thing that gave him hope, the one thing that kept him alive.His faith, like his home, his family, and his freedom, was taken from him, leaving him suffering in an eternal night.
Never shall I forget that night, the first one in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed
Never shall I forget that smoke
Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.
Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.
Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity the desire to live.
Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my g-d and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.
Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as g-d himself.
Never.(34)
In this poem, Elie doesn’t only talk about an eternal night; he talks about
an eternal loss of faith. This passage confirms the connection between night and faith. In one night, he lost his faith, his will to live, his soul, his hopes and dreams, turning the rest of his days in the concentration camps into one long night. Every single time Wiesel brings up night, it seems to be when something bad has happened: “Once more, the last night. The last night at home, the last night in the ghetto, the last night in the cattle car, and, now, the last night in Buna. How much longer would our lives be lived from one “last night” to the next?” (83)
This part of the novella does not talk about lack of faith, instead, it reflects on how many “last nights” there have been, how he always brings up night, when something bad is happening. Elie has many symbolisms throughout the book, but night seems to be the most prominent one. Night is the symbol for not only his lack of faith, but all he had to go through, and the fear and terror he experienced in the camps. It symbolizes eternal darkness. Grief. Pain. Death.
It symbolizes a world without happiness, a world without pleasure, a world without love, and a world without light.
Aliya,
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job on your blog. You did a great job of getting to all the main points that effected Elie Wiesel's life during the Holocaust. The way you collected your thoughts about his experience really helped me to grasp the idea of what happened a little more. Good job!
Aliya,
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a really good job and the blog was well written. I agree with you about how Elie had faith through out the book. I liked how you used the last night. Good Job!