Night Essay

Symbolism of Night as Darkness and Evil Under the shroud of darkness and evil during the long nights in the memoir, Night, by Elie Wiesel, Jewish prisoners are in constant fear of what their next day will bring. The Jewish prisoners band together and talk to one another to hold on to those last remnants of social interactions. Also, the night has a symbolic function too. Night is a dark and evil time when people commit heinous acts of violence. To Elie, protagonist, the night is a never-ending time that brings about constant fear. When he is finally liberated from the concentration camp, it is not clear whether the night has given way to daylight, which symbolizes hope and restoration of normality. Elie struggles to find the light in order to restore a normal life. His experience of night can be interpreted literally and figuratively throughout the novel. As the first night actually approaches for Elie Wiesel, the sun sets which brings about literal darkness. Jewish families are being herded by the Gestapo to bring to concentration camps. Elie sees the heinous acts committed by the Nazis throughout the long nights in the concentration camps, train rides, and in he ghetto. As the nights seem longer and the days appear shorter, Elie’s perspective for time is gone. "So much has happened within such a few hours that I had lost all sense of time. When had we left our houses? And the ghetto? And the train? Was it only a week? One night- one single night" (34). The night shows how something so prevalent in life has the capability to take away so much from people and inflict fear. The night had drained everyone’s sense of hope to live another day as they watched strangers, friends, and family be killed by the ruthless Nazi’s. As Elie’s journey towards finding rescue continues, the nights pass and slowly consume his life and everyone else with gloom and despair. “Listen to me, kid. Don’t forget that you are in a concentration camp. In this place, it is every man for