Night: Shifts in Tone Essay
Júlia Fávero
Professor Weiss
English 10A
30 March, 2013
Night: Shifts in Tone In every writing piece, be it a news journal or a deep philosophical book, literary devices serve as the substructure for the assembly of tone. In “Night”, the narrator goes through intense emotions and by modifying the utilization of literary devices, predominantly diction, syntax and symbolism, tone accordingly shifts throughout the book; thus, it becomes noticeable how the character’s emotions go from outraged, to hopeful, to indifferent. Therefore by carefully altering the above mentioned literary devices during different moments of the book, Wiesel makes it clear the drastic change in his thoughts and feelings all through the most intricate part of his life. As Wiesel speaks of his first contact with the atrocious journey that was to come in his life, he greatly exploits word choice, syntax and symbolism to create a tone which demonstrates a strong sense of indignation. For instance, in: “We stood stunned, petrified. Could this be just a nightmare? An unimaginable nightmare?” (Wiesel 31) the usage of diction is visible where he uses words such as “stunned”, “petrified”, “nightmare” and “unimaginable” to very clearly determine his outrage. This becomes evident as instead of using most basic synonyms, the author purposefully selected heavier words, all which designate indignation, to generate more effect towards the readers by building a stronger tone. For syntax, in: “I pinched myself: Was I still alive? Was I awake? How was it possible that men, women and children were being burned and that the world kept silent?” (Wiesel 32) it is lucid how the author utilized punctuation along with sentence length in order to express his livid emotions. By repeating quotation marks in very small intervals, a tone of denial and confusion is created, thus the outrage. Finally, a very central literary device for the book, which was constantly utilized, is shown when Wiesel said: “We
Professor Weiss
English 10A
30 March, 2013
Night: Shifts in Tone In every writing piece, be it a news journal or a deep philosophical book, literary devices serve as the substructure for the assembly of tone. In “Night”, the narrator goes through intense emotions and by modifying the utilization of literary devices, predominantly diction, syntax and symbolism, tone accordingly shifts throughout the book; thus, it becomes noticeable how the character’s emotions go from outraged, to hopeful, to indifferent. Therefore by carefully altering the above mentioned literary devices during different moments of the book, Wiesel makes it clear the drastic change in his thoughts and feelings all through the most intricate part of his life. As Wiesel speaks of his first contact with the atrocious journey that was to come in his life, he greatly exploits word choice, syntax and symbolism to create a tone which demonstrates a strong sense of indignation. For instance, in: “We stood stunned, petrified. Could this be just a nightmare? An unimaginable nightmare?” (Wiesel 31) the usage of diction is visible where he uses words such as “stunned”, “petrified”, “nightmare” and “unimaginable” to very clearly determine his outrage. This becomes evident as instead of using most basic synonyms, the author purposefully selected heavier words, all which designate indignation, to generate more effect towards the readers by building a stronger tone. For syntax, in: “I pinched myself: Was I still alive? Was I awake? How was it possible that men, women and children were being burned and that the world kept silent?” (Wiesel 32) it is lucid how the author utilized punctuation along with sentence length in order to express his livid emotions. By repeating quotation marks in very small intervals, a tone of denial and confusion is created, thus the outrage. Finally, a very central literary device for the book, which was constantly utilized, is shown when Wiesel said: “We