Cameron Bates
Pre-Ap English – 5
Assignment: Stylistic Analysis of Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night
November 21, 2014
In The Presence of Night
In his Holocaust memoir Night, Elie Wiesel narrates his transformation from a God loving child to a skeleton – like figure not knowing what to believe. In this memoir Wiesel demonstrates the physical and emotional toll a tragedy such as the Holocaust can have on someone. Through the use of destructive diction and anaphora/repetition syntax, Weisel compares the death by humans hands in chapters one through five and the death by nature in chapters six through nine.
In the opening chapters Wiesel employs destructive diction to show the Jew’s deaths and torture by humans. For example, when Wiesel first came to the concentration camp at Auschwitz he witnessed “ Babies! Yes, I did see this with my own eyes… children thrown into the flames.” (32) and “The gypsy stared at him for a long time, from head to toe. As if he wished to ascertain the person addressing him was actually a creature of flesh and bone, a human being with a body and a belly. Then, as if waking from a deep sleep, he slapped my father with such force that he fell down and crawled back to his place on all fours.”(39) Elie has seen worse in just a couple of days than in his whole life time and this has changed him as a person seeing the world as a dark and destructive place rather than a peaceful loving place. When Wiesel was transferred to Buna there was a hanging of a boy “ Then the entire camp, block after block, filed past hanged boy…” (62) and another boy was hung. “ But the boy was silent… Total silence in the camp.”(64) The Germans are not just destroying the Jews body but are also destroying the body of the living. The emphasis on silence magnified the emptiness experienced through the hangings of the children. The destructive diction used in this memoir shows the effects these inhumane acts have towards the Jews souls.
However, in the second portion of the book, chapters six through nine, Wiesels use of diction is through the Jews death by nature. The Jews are being sent to Gleiwitz and are walking through a snowstorm and at this point the Jews have lost their fight and will to survive “ “I can’t go on” Zalman groaned, He lowered his pants and fell to the ground.” (86) also when they took a break from running, “Beneath our feet while there lay men, trampled underfoot dying.”(89). While the Jews are running they lose hope to survive and leave each other to die. Chapters one through five differ from chapters six through nine by the fact that the Jews are being tortured by human hands physically and emotionally by the Germans in chapters one through five and are killed by nature, snow, and the new bound killer-instinct burden.
In the opening chapters Wiesel also employs syntax through anaphora denying that there is any danger. For example, in the opening scene Elie questions, “ Why did I pray? Strange question. Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” (4) This points out to Wiesel that danger is not really there because when death comes everything will be better. Later on While still at home the Jews were told to wear a yellow star and Wiesel’s father said “The yellow star? So what? It’s not lethal.” Wiesel’s father has hope that this will not kill him. The anaphora in these chapters shows the hope the Jews have that they are holding on to safety which is the cause of their deaths.
However, in chapters six through nine Wiesel uses syntax through personification showing how nature is the Jews captive in chapters six through nine. For example, when Wiesel stopped running he almost “let [himself] be overcome by sleep.”(88) . In addition, while lying in the snow his dad “ had aged since last night.” (88) Wiesel and his father have been through everything together and unlike most have stuck together through it all, but they can see that even with one another they are starting to slowly fade away and die. In chapters one through five the Jews are are hoping for no torture or pain and Wiesel shows this through anaphora. In chapters six through nine however the syntax is through personification in that the Jews are being engulfed by the lack of rest and food and are being killed by nature.
By the use of destructive diction and anaphora/personification syntax Wiesel demonstrates how the Germans and the nature of killing changes his opinion on man-kind. He shows how he changes religiously and physically in that he loses his faith in God and loses his love and kindness towards humans.