Personification In Night By Elie Wiesel

Words: 1215
Pages: 5

“Night” by Elie Wiesel is considered one of the greatest pieces of literature to emerge from the ashes of the Holocaust. Wiesel’s unique voice and writing is able describe themes of humanity, faith, hope and family in a way that transverses boundaries.
In the novel Night, young Wiesel and his family were transported to concentration camps during the Holocaust. Along the way, they were forced to separate and work with very little amounts of food. Elie and his father stuck together throughout each transport, job, and block and moved from camp to camp. They watched hangings, barely ate any food, and smelled burning flesh day and night. In the end, Elie was the only one who made it out alive and lived to tell his story.
Wiesel's unique voice in
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In “Night” there were three prominent examples of rhetorical devices; personification, recurring optimism and similes. Personification is giving human characteristics to something nonhuman, greatly impacting the mood of scenes, as well as character development. Optimism is keeping a hopeful and positive outlook on current and future events, which was a recurring instance in the book, greatly affecting the fates of Elie, his family, and other Jews of Sighet. Another commonly used device are similes, which are used to compare seemingly opposite things subtly, and are used to describe setting and feelings.
In “Night” there are various examples of personification contributing to the unique tone of the book. On page six Elie described “A calm reassuring wind (that) blew through our homes.” This excerpt shows that even though the inhabitants of Sighet were disturbed by the deportation of all foreign Jews, they quickly forgot about it and their lives returned to normal. When Elie and his father first arrived at the concentration camp, they were forced to completely change their appearance, and in turn become different people. Elie felt that his“...soul had been invaded- and devoured- by a black