Elie Wiesel Language Analysis

Language, in itself, is exceptionally powerful. Language has the power to stop wars, to solve conflicts; however, perhaps one of the most important forces of language is the power to create emotion, to create meaning. The words an author elects to use can effectively impact one’s own reality. In the event that language is effectively utilized, it can evoke deep emotion from the reader and induce extensive thought in order to connect the words to the meaning. An author can manipulate language to convey their message by their choice of diction throughout a passage or by further applying various forms of figurative language to create imagery.
An author can use language to convey their message by their choice of diction throughout a story. An extraordinary example that demonstrates the economic usage of constructive words in order to express meaning can be observed in Elie Wiesel’s
In particular, the influence of figurative language can be demonstrated by the various forms found in Night, such as “He seemed to break in two like an old tree struck by lightning” (Wiesel 54). In this expression, Elie Wiesel applies a simile to help the reader make the connection between his father’s reaction after being beaten to an old tree being struck by lightning-a slow, delayed reaction followed by destruction. This language also describes to the reader how Wiesel’s father is able to endure the entire Holocaust experience until he is beaten, and then he begins to crumble; similar to how a tree can withstand the rain and thunder, but a beam of lightning can smoothly destroy it. The execution of such influential words as a means to articulate an underlying abstract meaning helps to accommodate authors in manifesting a specific