Elie Wiesel book "Night" essay by Cliff

 

The Holocaust was a terrible event in history, it caused the death of millions of innocent people. It changed the course of history and the world. Night by Elie Wiesel is a memoir of his experiences in the Nazi concentration camps during the holocaust. I will discuss how the following techniques, First person narration and Hyperboles are used to evoke an emotional response in the reader.These techniques made me feel emotional by putting me in his shoes and having me think about how i would feel. It just shows you how much these events affected him. You can also feel anger towards the Nazis for taking their lives away, with writing emphasising how terrible all these things are. 

Shortly before he witnessed these things, he was told that he would be put into the fire, he didn't believe it. It was too horrible to be true. "Babies! yes, I did see this, with my own eyes... children thrown into the flames." This quote uses First person narration to emphasise to the reader that he really saw it himself, he wasn't told what happened, he was there. The exclamation mark represents the surprise he felt that not even the youngest were safe.This made you feel emotional by putting you in his position seeing innocent children thrown into the flames. I feel terrible that he had to witness these things at such a young age, then going on for years with the fear thinking that could be him.

His father had been very ill for a while nearing death. They marched for a long time in freezing temperatures. "The officer came closer and shouted to him to be silent. But my father did not hear. He continued to call me. the officer wielded his club and dealt him a violent blow to the head. I didn't move. I was afraid, my body was afraid of another blow, this time to my head." The way first person narration is used in this section to show how scared he was of being hit is he refers to his body being scared. his body remembers the last time he was beaten not wanting it to happen again.I feel stricken with sorrow that in his fathers moment of need he couldn't be there for him. All he could do was listen as his father was pummeled by the Nazis fearing the same would happen to himself.

He had heard his father being beaten to death in his sleep shortly before. He was now alone. "I did not weep, and it pained me that i could not weep. But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, i might have found something like: Free at last!..." Here his use of a hyperbole saying he couldn't weep was showing how empty and exhausted he felt. He was so tired of it all he couldn't even cry for his father. Using first person narration he states that even if he could find something in his mind it would be not a thought of his father, but the thought of finally being free at last.This causes an emotional response when he explains that if he had the energy to think he would only think of being free. This dispirits me to see how towards the end he might of thought of his father as a burden or something weighing him down and not as his father.

In conclusion the techniques used in this book make you emotional by putting you in his place describing in detail what happened, using first person narrative and hyperboles to express his thoughts and feelings. My final thoughts after reading Elie Wiesel's memoir. it shines a light on how terrible the situation truly was. writing it in a way only a person who had experienced it first hand could, giving me a better understanding of what really went down. It makes me feel crushed when he describes how he didn't even feel anything at the end, how his father died without his son by his side. but also thankful that he survived and that he could show the world what really happened spreading awareness.