Essay Question:
Describe at least one important technique used in the text. Explain how the technique created an emotional response in you.
Elie Wiesel's memoir 'Night' is his record of his experiences during the Holocaust. He uses a range of techniques such as repetition, first person narration and word choices. His writing had a big emotional impact on me, making me feel very surprised that people would actually do that for their leader. It made me feel lucky that I wasn't a Jew in those times. It also made me feel upset that people in this world could do that with no remorse. I learned that Wiesel's autobiography made me think about how people were influenced so easily.
"Over there, that's where they will take you. Over there will be your grave," the experienced inmate said to Elie, as he pointed to the large furnace full of dead Jews and the gas chamber that had killed thousands of Jews if not hundred of thousands of Jews. This repetition of 'over there' was used to make a very strong point that death was close. This technique made me feel sad that people had gone through this sort of experience. I would have felt desperate to get out of the concentration camp.
"Babies! Yes, I did see this with my own eyes... children thrown into the flames." This is first person narration using the pronouns 'I' and 'my'. It gives a personal perspective of babies and children killed and thrown into flames. First person narration is letting the reader see that through Elie Weisel's eyes. It was quite upsetting to me that all these people from 18 to 40 were able to just kill millions of Jews just because Hitler wanted them dead, while all of them had little to no remorse for the Jews at all. This made me upset to even imagine that humans could treat other humans in such a way.
"The officer welded his club and dealt him a violent blow to the head." The word choices 'violent', 'blow', and 'welded' were used when Elie was describing what he had heard when the officer hit his father on the head. These negative strong words help the reader understand how violent it really was when Elie's father was beaten by the SS officer. This made me feel very angry; I would have wanted to kill that SS officer cause no one touches my father. My blood would have been boiling if I were Elie and I were to see my father being beaten all because he was sick and helpless. No one could even help Elie's father if they wanted to because they were all beaten, tired, weak, bruised and half dead.
In conclusion, I think Elie's book was very important to read so we have a better understanding about how devastating the Holocaust really was. By using the techniques of repetition of words, first person narration and word choices, Elie's writing impacted me emotionally by really making me feel how he felt during his time spent in the concentration camp. In my opinion, it is very important to know about the Holocaust especially because we will be the last generation to hear about the Holocaust from the real survivors.
