Symbolism in Night by Elie Wiesel
Directions: Discuss and write an explanation for each symbolic meaning. Use your book to
help you find textual evidence to support your inferences and interpretations.
Symbolic
Meaning
Symbol
Explanation and Textual Evidence
●
Fire &
Flames
Death &
Destruction
Impending Doom
Elie’s Suffering
Night
Man’s inhumanity to
man
The effects of the
Holocaust on Elie’s
faith
●
●
Fires eat and engulf what they consume; they destroy everything in
their way; they are painful and hurt; they sting; hell is often seen as a
fiery pit and the Holocaust was a hellish nightmare
In chapter 2, Madame Schachter sees the flames and foreshadows the
fate of the Jews
“Night. No one was praying for the night to pass quickly. The stars
were but sparks of the immense conflagration that was consuming us.
Where this conflagration to be extinguished one day, nothing would
be left in the sky but extinct stars and unseeing eyes” (p. 21).
● During the night, there is darkness and no light. During the night
there are nightmares and dreams, and it’s spent waiting for the
daybreak to arrive. The time Elie spent in the camps were his
nights, where he suffered from the cruelty of other humans and he
lost his faith in god.
● “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in the camp, that
turned my life into one long night seven times sealed……Never
shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul
and turned my dreams to ashes” (pg. 34)
●
The Jewish People
The Angelic
Pipel
God
Elie’s faith (and
other prisoners like
him)
●
●
Silence
Indifference
●
The Angelic Pipel was a young boy who was loved by all in the
concentration camps, but most importantly he was completely
innocent. In the end, he ended up being hanged for crimes that he
hadn’t committed. However, his weight was not enough to kill
him, so he suffered for an extra thirty minutes before finally
dying. His innocence and suffering reflect the Jews in the camps,
and his death symbolizes the death of god and the death of
people’s faith.
“But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still
breathing… And so he remained for more than half an hour,
lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes. And
we were forced to look at him at close range. He was still alive
when I passed him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet
extinguished. Behind me, I heard the same man asking: ‘For
God's sake, where is God?’” (pg. 65)
Silence can show a lot of emotions, but in the concentration
camps it is shown when people kept silent while others were
being beaten, starving, or dying. Others were more interested in
keeping themselves alive rather than helping others, they were
indifferent to the struggles of everyone but themselves.
“We were outside. The icy wind whipped my face. I was
constantly biting my lips so that they wouldn't freeze. All around
me, what appeared to be a dance of death. My head was reeling. I
was walking through a cemetery. Among the stiffened corpses,
there were logs of wood. Not a sound of distress, not a plaintive
●
Shlomo gives
Elie his
Inheritance &
Legacy
spoon &
knife
●
cry, nothing but mass agony and silence. Nobody asked anyone
for help. One died because one had to. No point in making
trouble.” (pg. 89)
People normally leave behind wishes and keepsakes for their kids
to remember them. In the concentration camps, they owned
nothing and had no wishes other than to survive. Many people
perished in the gas chambers without leaving behind a legacy, not
many had a family to pass a legacy down to. Shlomo didn’t have
anything else but a knife and a spoon, and he was prepared to
give it all to his son.
“He felt time was running out. He was speaking rapidly, he
wanted to tell me so many things. His speech became confused,
his voice was choked. He knew that I had to leave in a few
moments. He was going to remain alone, so a l o n e… ‘Here,
take this knife,’ he said. ‘I won't need it anymore. You may find it
useful. Also take this spoon. Don't sell it. Quickly! Go ahead, take
what I'm giving you!’” (pg. 75)