Elie Wiesel's Night Essay Example

Night by Elie Wiesel, allows readers to find themselves trapped within the life of Elie himself. In both the 1954 and 1958 versions, we find many devices such as tone, syntax, diction, and personal references being used. As the twists and turns of the Holocaust unfold from the Jewish perspective, the true meaning of remembrance is tested. The purpose of the 1954 ending is to inform the reader of his perspective and his reason for writing this infectious novel. The purpose of the 1958 ending was to portray a sense of deep infliction that the Holocaust left upon Elie. The novel’s endings differ in the uses of their rhetorical devices, but are quite similar, in that they use almost the same rhetorical devices. Wiesel’s shorter sentences convey a deeper feeling of seriousness in the 1958 publishing. Wiesel allows the reader the opportunity to experience the emotion being expressed when he writes, “From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me.”(115). The uses of words such as “corpse” show that Wiesel’s personal view of himself as a person was changed by the events of the Holocaust. By using, “depths of the mirror” Wiesel, presumably, was thinking of the mirror as something with depth and more than just a reflection of himself. As if it was staring into his soul. He thought of it, perhaps, as a deep and endless sea of his fate. Wiesel stated that, “the look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me.”(115). This demonstrates that the person Wiesel saw in the mirror was not himself. He didn’t recognize the person in the mirror. He was staring at a person he’d never seen before, a dead man. The person he saw was too weak to continue and did not have any more strength left. After seeing this reflection Wiesel decided to fight for his life and become the healthy individual that he once was. In the 1954 version which is longer and more detailed, Wiesel uses personal experiences, and opinionated phrases as well as