Irony In Elie Wiesel's Night

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Elie Wiesel’s Night recounts his horrifying experiences as a Jewish boy under Nazi control, and the effect the Holocaust had, not just for the Jews, but to overall to humanity. The disturbing disregard for human beings, still to this day, induces consternation, and the Nazis’ gruesome actions has scarred mankind eternally. The Jews, as Elie Wiesel describes in Night, had to overcome numerous difficulties: they are forced to abandon their homes, all their personal possessions, and eventually their humanity. The Jews were separated from their families, Such as Elie, who never saw his mother and sister Tzipora again. Elie's suffered in the concentration camp of Auschwitz for 4 years before finally being liberated, having his faith shaken and …show more content…

His tone and diction are powerful for this subject and envelope the reader, as he uses many forms of figurative language to convey his purpose. The use of such descriptive literary language still poses an obstacle to understanding the true nature of his experiences, although his tone with the figurative language provides us with many shockingly detailed images. Elie Wiesel’s use of irony is a predominant part of his memoir. There are different forms of irony, and Night encompasses the three types of irony: dramatic irony, situational irony, and verbal …show more content…

This type of irony involves a situation in which actions have an effect that opposing from what was initially intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what was anticipated.When the Buna camp was threatened to be reached and liberated by the Red Army, the prisoners were evacuated the next morning. At this time Elie was in the hospital, and was certain he would likely be killed by the time the SS army was ready to leave, as a sick prisoner would slow the rest of the group down, and was worthless to them. Elie then decides to join the ranks and leave with the rest of the evacuees. Elie learns in post, “after the war the fate of those who had stayed behind in the hospital. They were quite simply liberated by the Russians two days after the evacuation” (). This quote is very ironic in a depressing way because it was unexpected that those who remained at the infirmary would be liberated, and Elie ultimately chose more cruelty and suffering by deciding to follow the others. The situational irony of Wiesel bandwagoning off popular opinion, when the situation could have been a lot smoother otherwise, is a numbing sensation of devastation. As a result, the evacuation of Auschwitz rather than immediately leading to their freedom, the Jews were imprisoned for another three months instead of being liberated by the Red Army. Elie Wiesel shows situational irony in other forms other than only

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