How Does Elie Wiesel Use Tree Imagery In Night

Elie Wiesel, the author of the memoir Night, was one of the survivors of the holocaust. He lived to tell the horrific stories, but only after taking a 10 year vow of silence. Elie describes the moments in great detail from the time the Germans first arrived in his hometown, Sighet, to the Allies’ liberation of Auschwitz at the very end of the war. Throughout the memoir, Elie uses many motifs, such as fire, bread, and even trees. In Night, the tree imagery helps Wiesel convey the physical, religious, and mental toll that dehumanization takes on the Jewish prisoners.
First, the tree imagery emphasizes the physical toll on the Jewish prisoners. During one of his fits of rage, Idek, a Kapo in Buna, starts beating Elie’s father with an iron bar. Elie states, “At first, my father simply doubled over

Similar to an older tree on the verge of breaking and dying, Elie’s father has finally been pushed to the brink of giving in to the abuse, as he doesn’t have much strength left. This is saying that Elie’s father is a dying tree that has minimal hope left for it. Elie’s father just let the assault happen, and it “broke” him. Not only is he being compared to a tree now, but he is a broken tree, rendering him useless, as people do not have any need for dead and broken trees. By comparing the buffets from Idek to lightning strikes, Wiesel shows just how spontaneous death and injury can be in the concentration camps. Later, the remaining Jews arrive at Buchenwald, yet another camp, and find themselves mired in snow. They “jostle” each other in order to enter a broken down warehouse just to get the opportunity to rest in the snow. Due to the pollution of the resources available to the Jewish prisoners, Elie’s father contracts dysentary from drinking the contaminated water. Because of this, Elie’s