Seventeen million people died in result of the Holocaust.
That's a little shy of
double the people in all of Ohio. Mr.Wiesel depicts the scenes that unfold the tragic
events also known as the Holocaust. In his book he shares about his personal
experience in the concentration camps, the exhaustion, inhumanity, and his struggle to
stay alive. In the memoir Night , Elie Wiesel uses repetition, and the symbols of bread
and flames to prove that people depend on family more in difficult situations.
Mr.Wiesel uses repetition to show that you depend on family more in difficult
times by repeating phrases throughout the memoir about how his family and father keep
him going. But at the beginning of the book he describes his father as a cruel detached
man. In chapter one before the Holocaust began and everything was ordinary he says,
“My father was a cultured man, rather unsentimental. He rarely displayed his feelings,
not even with his family, and was more involved in the welfare of others than that of his
own kin.” (p.4). But in chapter 9 once the Holocaust began and everything went bad
Mr.Wiesel states, “Since my father's death, nothing mattered to me anymore.” (p.113)
Again in chapter 6 he says, “...to let myself slide to the side of the road...My father's
presence was the only thing stopping me.”(p.86). Elie at first calls his father a distant
figure to whom he dosen’t really have much relation with, but later on once the
Holocaust began says his father was the only reason to live and the only purpose to do
anything. Displaying that when times are painless and smooth people take their family
and relationships for granted, but in rough patches realize how much they depend on
each other and how much they need each other.
Mr.Wiesel uses his gold crown to symbolize that in difficult times people depend
upon their family. In the memoir a dentist threatened to remove Elie Wiesel's gold crown
on his tooth because it was the only thing he had that was of any worth. Right as
Mr.Wiesel's tooth was going to be removed the dentist's office was shut down, and he
got to keep his prized possession saying, “...I was pleased with what was happening to
him: my gold crown was safe.” (p.52) But later once a new dentist took over ended up
having to get it extracted and he lost the only thing that really, truly belonged to him.
“That evening in the latrines, the dentist from Warsaw pulled my crown with a rusty
spoon, it was gone.”(p.56) The crown was the only thing that truly was his just like
family. Not realizing how much they're taken for granted until something or someone
threatens them. At that moment realizing how much they've done and how much they’ve
been there, once they have passed, or are taken away like Mr.Wiesel's crown things
never feel right, and everything seems off.
Elie Wiesel uses flames to symbolize the dependence on family during dark
times. In the book Weisel mentioned the flames that engulfed the jews when they
weren’t strong enough to work or disobeyed their officers, but never mentioned it much
more in the memoir ,even though everyone was thinking about it He says, “Not far from
us, flames, huge flames, were fishing from a ditch. Something was being burned in
there, small children. Babies!” (p.32) The flames symbolize the fear of the jews losing
their family, for the topic was discussed once, maybe twice. It was a tough topic to
digest. Both the flames burning the jews, and the Jews losing one another. Almost as if
it was the elephant in the room, everyone knew it was there. No one wanted to discuss
it.
Through repetition and symbolism Elie Wiesel is able to prove the dependence
upon family in difficult situations. As he talks about his father constantly throughout the
chapters, tells about his gold crown that was taken from him just like his family, and how
no one discussed the crematorium burning Jews up, the same as no one talking about
having lost or losing their family. The point comes across pretty clear -- everyone is
more dependent upon their family during hard times -- whether they're willing to admit it
or not . Mr.Weisel and everyone in the Holocaust hung onto the only thing they had --
their family. And when that was taken -- they had nothing.
