The book "Night" by Elie Wiesel is a autobiography of his time during the Holocaust and life in the concentration camps; it reveals the impact for society and for the individuals. This event took place when Germany took over Sighet in Romania during the Second World War. Elie had his own doubts about thinking life was worth even living. He used a variety of techniques to describe the course of events, such as repetition, rhetorical questions, and dialogue because his father was talking to him. His writing impacted me emotionally, making me feel uncomfortably distressed, horrified and puzzled about him and his father.
I just can't forget hearing his vivid description of babies getting thrown into the vast pits of fire. Elie was in very much of disbelief of all the stories he was hearing about the fire pits and the crematoria. He wrote, "Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever." The phrase 'Never Shall I Forget' was repeated seven times in the book; the word seven is a symbol for all association with God. Lots of children were sent to the gas chambers first because Adolf Hitler didn't want another generation of Jews. Pregnan t women and other women were forced to leave their babies, to give up their own children, some of which didn't even get to have a day or two with their own mothers.
Elie was very curious about all means of God and rules about the Talmud, but in Chapter 4 it all started to change. A young pipel was getting hung for the reason he was stealing, in punishment he was sent to get hung. While the young boy was drifting through life and death, a man spoke, "For God's sake, where is God?" The speech techniques he used were repetition and rhetorical question because the man said it in a swearing way but he meant it to find something out. That was the moment he second-guessed himself. But just why were they forced to walk past the hanging and to see that at such a young age for some people? This made me feel sickened for the prisoners to walk past and have to look at the young boy.
His own father was too weak and frail to even do anything, lying there on his deathbed. Elie would always help his dad in some sort of way by giving his own ration of bread or soup. But this incident just did not make sense, "My son, water...I'm burning up... My insides...." The technique used is dialogue, with Elie recording the words his father said. It made me wonder why Elie didn't give his father any water that he was asking for. What would have happened to his father if he did end up giving him water to drink? That was the last ever moment Elie spent with his father, now his only lasting memory was that date January 28 1945.
The range of techniques Elie used to explain the experience that he went through over this period of time included repetition, rhetorical question and dialogue as he and his father were talking. His writing impacted me emotionally, by making me feel discomforted, sickened and confused about the events that took place. It is absolutely unbelievable that Elie was just 15 years of age just watching all of this in front of his own eyes, but he had to lie about his own age so he wasn't sent to the crematoria. Lots of children were sent to the gas chambers first because Adolf Hitler didn't want another generation of Jews. Pregnant women and other women had to leave their babies to give up their own children and babies which didn't even get to have a day or two with their own mothers. These mothers would have been miserable and depressed. The events that took place over this time were truly unbearable scenes that a 16-year old left the concentration camp. The camp was liberated by the American army. All these events finally came to an end.
