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Figurative Language in Night

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Figurative Language in Night
Figurative Language in Night

The Holocaust made an impact on everybody’s lives but Eli Wiesel has a one of a kind story. In the novel Night written by Eli Wiesel he shares to everybody about the hardships in concentration camps as a young boy. He describes some of the horrible events using figurative language to clearly show his experiences in the Holocaust. Eli uses ‘night’ to convey the horrors he witnessed around him when the prisoners are on the freezing cattle cars and also his first day in the camp. Eli uses figurative language to create a better image in your mind about what he is talking about. For example when the prisoners are on the cattle car during the freezing winter Eli mentions, “The night was growing longer, never ending” (98). Eli isn’t just saying that the nights are longer in time he is implying that the hardships he is going through are getting worse and longer. Everyone at times cannot express an event without using figurative language. For instance when Eli first arrives at the concentration camp he sees things that he will never get out of his mind. “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp that turned my life into one long night” (34). Here Eli is using “night” as all the hardships and he states that his life is “one long night.” While all of the prisoners were treated like animals and forced to fit into cattle cars, Eli says “The days resembled nights and the nights left in our souls”(100). Eli is stating how the horrors everybody is experiencing are never ending and also never-ending in their souls. Throughout Eli’s story he frequently uses ‘night’ in his figurative language to create an image of what all of the prisoners went through. The Holocaust changed lives all across the world showing that people will do horrible things and it also shows how strong people really are.

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