Night Figurative Language

When you read, do you ever felt like there is a recording playing in your head, telling the story to you? Have you ever noticed that each writer has a “voice” that is completely their own? Why do all of the great authors have a “sound” exclusive to themselves? Using precise wording and distinctive phrases, writers can manipulate your thoughts and emotions to help the reader understand the content of the literature. This is especially helpful when the subject matter is uncomfortable and harsh, such as the lives of inmates in the Nazi concentration and death camps during World War II. Relating to this book, Wiesel was imprisoned in Buchenwald and Auschwitz for being a Jew, and in particular uses his style to tell the tale of those two camps’
One of the first examples of this is in the first chapter of the book, when he writes “They went by, fallen, dragging their packs, dragging their lives, deserting their homes, the years of their childhood, cringing like beaten dogs,” (15). Here, the author is comparing the Jews to dogs using a smilie, and is referring to when the people of Sighet (the Jewish village Wiesel lived in) are ousted from their homes by the Nazis and the Hungarian police. As a reader, the Jews’ misery and mistreatment is painfully apparent. The fact that the Jews are compared to beaten dogs makes the readers irate, and helps them to realize the depth of the injustice that they were subjected to. The Jews have just been driven out of their homes and are being treated worse than prisoners, and they are being punished for what they believe, not for anything that they have done wrong. Another example of Jews being compared to animals that occurs a little farther into the book happens when the prisoners are on their way to Birkenau, a sub-camp of the infamous Auschwitz. “The world was a cattle wagon hermetically sealed,” (22). This example of likening the Jews to animals, using a metaphor, is a little less direct than much of the other figurative language comparisons in the book. However, it is still apparent that Wiesel and his people are being compared to
While Wiesel and his father are imprisoned in Auschwitz, they meet a relative of theirs. Before the camps, everyone was healthy, strong, and hopeful. Now the author writes of his relative, and says, “And he was so thin himself, so dried up, so weak,” (42). Wiesel uses the repetition of the word “so” to emphasize just how frail the relative was, and to amass reader sympathy and dread for the Jews. He does this to help the reader, most likely a privileged, free person visualize the barbarity that was these people's everyday life, and make them want to help anyone who is or was treated this way. The word “so” being used augments the imagery and desperation expressed here, to support the tenderness we feel towards the Jews and disgust we feel at the Nazis for subjecting human beings to this abuse. In addition, the author uses repetition at the point in the memoir when he and his family arrive in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp. Reflecting on his memories in the present day, Wiesel writes, “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp...Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.” (32). In this passage, he repeats the word “never” recurrently, and describes his horrendous experiences as well as the loss of his faith. Making this