The Symbolism Of Night In Elie Wiesel's Night

Elie Wiesel’s touching memoir, Night, shares intimate details about the cruelty of World War Two concentration camps and the horrors that occurred within them. Concentration camps were spread throughout Germany and Poland from 1933-1945 as the result of strong anti-Semitic views radiating from the President and Chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler. In the memoir, Night, Wiesel shares of the time that he and his father endured being held captive in several concentration camps, and the battle to escape death, day after day. In the memoir, the significance of night was used throughout the piece to draw connections and emotions from the reader. In Night, night was used both literally and symbolically to portray the unknown, pain, and the end of a journey.

The use of the word night can be interpreted as the unknown, and fear that is invoked because of it. In the second chapter of Night, Wiesel describes a scene on the train, the beginning of their journey, “some [were] pressed against the bars to see, there was nothing. Only the darkness of night.” On the train, it is night, dark, and the prisoners cannot see. The prisoners are also do not know what is going to happen to them; ergo, their future is dark and unknown. In chapter six of Night, in the camp, “Night was falling rapidly. And more and more prisoners kept coming.” That means more prisoners were coming to the camp; furthermore, more and more people were stepping into the unknown, which connects to night falling quickly. In Night, the darkness and the inability to see represents unknown; however, nightfall also represents pain and feeling