Analysis Of Elie Wiesel's 'Night'

United We Stand, Divided We Fall

According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, belonging is a human requirement only topped by mental homeostasis and safety. Human relationships have dictated the role of history, from cooperating to solve worldwide problems, to the establishment of globalization. However, human beings are intrinsically gregarious. The survival of humanity depends on reproduction. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, he recounts the psychological journey the Jews in the Holocaust took. Often regarded as a stain in humankind’s legacy, the Holocaust was a genocide, enforced by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime, in which six million Jews were systematically murdered. Throughout the memoir, an emphasis is placed on the mental effects the

Wiesel uses metaphors, personification and ellipses to exhibit that unjust treatment leads to the slow disintegration of social relationships amongst members in the oppressed community.

Wiesel utilizes metaphors to display the slow transformation of Jews into introverts as a result of discrimination. Although the German concentration camps were infamous for their conditions, the subjugation of Jews, including Wiesel, had begun as soon as the Germans arrived in his hometown, Sighet. Not only did the German troops force the Jews into ghettos, but they deported them in congested trains without any valuables. As Wiesel’s mother acclimatized to the bleak situation, a change in her nature could be seen when Wiesel described her face as, “a mask without a word, deep in thought” (Wiesel 19). Through the usage of a metaphor, Wiesel illustrated the social change his mother experienced after being stripped of her home, belongings

Towards the end of the story, Wiesel’s dad becomes extremely sick. During an attempt to find his father in a mob, he dreams that “[he] were relieved of this responsibility, [he] could use all [his] strength to fight for [his] own survival, to take care of [himself]…” (Wiesel 106). The ellipses showcased the confusion in his mind regarding his father’s situation. Wiesel’s implicit thought about his father regards him as a dead weight, and questions the need of nursing him. Although Wiesel hasn’t completely scrapped his relationship with his father, the doubt set the foundation for the subsequent sacrifice. Their experiences in the Holocaust only separated their relationship, rather than bringing them closer together. Wiesel showcases, through the use of ellipses, that the Jews became less gregarious after the harsh treatment imposed on them by the