Night Elie Wiesel Analysis

It is so strenuous to be faithful when you are a walking cadaver and all you can think of is God. You devote your whole life to Him and he does not even have the mercy set you free. At the concentration camp, many people were losing faith. Not just in God, but in themselves too. Elie Wiesel uses many literary devices, including tone, repetition and irony to express the theme, loss of faith. He uses tone by quoting men at the camp and how they are craving for God to set them free. He also uses repetition. He starts sentences with the same opening, so that it stays in the reader’s head. Finally, he uses irony to allude to loss of faith. Elie understands how ironic it is to praise someone so highly, only to realize they will not have mercy on you. In Night, Elie Wiesel uses tone, repetition and irony illustrate the loss of faith the prisoners were going through.

The men were losing faith in God. They expect Him to have benevolence to them. They hope that He will come and save them all, but there were no signs of that. Elie uses the device, tone to help illustrate the theme. In Night, there was a hanging of a boy. All of the men were questioning their faith in God and where He was at this time of need. “‘Where is a merciful God. Where is He?’ someone behind me was asking.”(64). There is also another quote to support this. “‘For God’s sake, where is

God?’”(65). Some of the men were questioning where God was. Elie shows this by using these quotes, categorically. The men are irate by God. they are baffled, because He is not showing mercy. You can hear it in their voices.

The Jews of World War 2 went through a lot of suffering. It was very difficult for many of them to keep believing in their religion, because no God would let such a terrible experience happen to so many innocent people. In the story, a man named Moishe the Beadle was taken away by Nazis, but survives and comes back to the town in which Elie lives. “Moishe was not the same. The joy in his eyes was gone. He no longer sang. He longer mentioned either God or Kabbalah.”(7). Moishe was a very religious man. He even taught Elie the Kabbalah faith. After coming back from seeing babies and adults being shot and tortured, Moishe starts to lose faith. This quote represents the literary analysis of repetition to show loss of faith. There is another example of this on page 34. “Never shall I forget the flames that consumed my faith forever.”(34). Elie repeated “Never shall I...” to represent loss of faith.

It is no question that Elie was losing faith. He even rebels against God. He lost his faith. Wiesel uses irony to illustrate loss of faith. “Why should his name? The almighty, the eternal and terrible master of the universe chose to be silent.”(33). Elie finally realizes how ironic it is that, although the Jews are faithful to God, He still lets them go through this terrible ordeal. Furthermore, Elie goes on to question his faith on page 67. He is losing faith in God and he realizes the irony in it all. “Blessed be the God’s name? why , but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled.” (67). Elie finds out that it is ironic that they pray to a God who does nothing in their time of need. He utilizes the device, irony, to show loss of faith.
To conclude, Elie uses tone, repetition and irony illustrate the loss of faith.

He applies tone by quoting the men who are questioning God. they are angry and frustrated that God is not there to set them free. Moreover, Elie uses repetition to utilize the theme. He repeats the same line over and over again to get the reader to commemorate. Lastly, he employs irony in his story. Elie realizes how ironic it is to worship someone who will not even give you mercy. The Jews that went through Holocaust experienced more pain than anyone should ever go through. It was very hard for more of them to hold onto their

faith.