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Liliana Camargo
Ms. Gifford
ELA 1-2
4 December 2015
Analysis of Elie Wiesels Style
The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing. - John Powell. In Elie
Wiesels personal memoir Night, Wiesel and his family are residing in the Hungarian Territory
during World War II. The Jewish maintain optimism as they are being transported from ghettos to
concentration camps, but soon survival becomes their first priority until they are liberated in
1945. In this autobiography, Wiesel remarkably illustrates how the Germans treat the Jews in the
horrors of the Holocaust and how the captivity of the Jewish challenges their faith.
The readers of Night witness how the Germans treated the Jews in the horrors of the
Holocaust. When the SS Guards found traitors, they forced the Jews to witness their death
hanging over the gallows. Torture is revealed when Wiesel shares, For more than half an hour
he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes (Wiesel
62). Through imagery, Wiesel helps us to visualize the inhumane treatment the Germans gave to
the Jewish prisoners. Using the actions of the SS Guards effectively discloses on how the
Germans lacked pity for the Jews. If Wiesel had not illustrated the hanging of the young boy, the
intensity of the torture would not have affected the reader. The author is able to describe to us of
the horrendous deaths in the concentration camps due to his use of lucid imagery. Equally
important in showing the horrors of the Holocaust is the journey to Gleiwitz. When Russian

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enemies reach Buna all Jewish prisoners were evacuated and forced to run in the freezing climate
to a separate concentration camp. Wiesel vividly presents to us the journey by providing, Their
fingers on the triggers, they did not deprive themselves of this pleasure. If one of us stopped for a
second, a sharp shot finished off another filthy son of a bitch (Wiesel 81). Through the
application of imagery, Wiesel specifies the cruelty the SS Guards express. Using the Germans
actions adequately divulges the callous behavior they convey. If Wiesel had merely stated that
the Jews ran to Gleiwitz, the readers wouldnt have felt the sympathy over the deaths caused on
this journey. With his use of detailed imagery, Wiesel manages to illustrate the evacuation and
the behavior of the Germans toward the Jews. Wiesel also describes to us of the inhumane ways
the Germans treated the Jewish without pity or compassion.
Through his writing of Night, Wiesel reveals to us how the faith of the Jews was
challenged under the circumstances of the Holocaust. On the Jewish New Year, Wiesel is
infuriated with his God for punishing the Jews. Rebellion against his faith is evident when
Wiesel shares, But these men here, whom You have betrayed, whom You have allowed to be
tortured, butchered, gassed, burned, what do they do? They pray before You! They praise Your
name (Wiesel 64)! With the use of a rhetorical question, Wiesel shares how the Jews questioned
their faith. Using his thoughts with this method reveals the tension Wiesel feels with his God.
Without the use of a rhetorical question readers wouldnt have felt the anger and doubt Wiesel
did. Also with the use of a rhetorical question Wiesel provided readers with the emotion Jews
experienced with their faith. Moreover, in addition to the Jews and their conflict with religion is
when Wiesel enters his first concentration camp. Upon Wiesels arrival to Birkenau him and his
father witness the burning of children in fire pits. Wiesel develops repetition by stating, Never
shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to

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dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself.
Never (Wiesel 32). Through repetition, Wiesel shares the significance of his faith. By using his
thoughts we can visualize how Wiesel was being emotionally affected and also effectively
reveals on how his life was changed from that moment on. If Wiesel hadnt repeated himself
readers wouldnt have felt the distress being expressed. With his use of repetition Wiesel is able
to share how his entrance to the concentration camps changed him as a young boy. Wiesel is able
to exquisitely share the experience of the Jews challenging their faith as they entered the
Holocaust using repetition and rhetorical questions.
The reader learns of the horrors in the Holocaust along with the Jews emotional distress
with faith through imagery, repetition, and rhetorical questions used by Wiesel. Wiesels intent
on writing Night was to learn from the wrong of the Holocaust such as in the quote The only
real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing., by John Powell. In reflection to the
memoir readers can perceive that life may be challenging but we can always learn from their
mistakes.