Elie Wiesel's "Night"

Paper Summary:

In this paper, the author examines the questions raised in Elie Wiesel's novel, "Night." A brief background of Wiesel and this work is presented. The paper also focuses on this book being about the experiences of a victim and not an account of the reasons behind the Holocaust. The paper also considers some of the literary devices used by Wiesel to describe his experience. The author found Wiesel's story to be particularly compelling because it is from the point of view of a child who could not be expected to understand the political and social disruptions of the time.

From the Paper:

"The main figure in Elie Wiesel's Night is a surrogate for Wiesel himself. The story is true, and Wiesel distances himself from the story as he speaks of the young man, Eliezer, who was once himself as if he were observing another person, and one critic notes that the book uses "novelistic methods: it is retrospective, it is clearly the result of narrative choices and omissions, and its first-person narrator is at a distance from its character, whose name, Eliezer, is different from that of the author" (Vice 164). Perhaps this distance is necessary to allow Wiesel to probe into a time of great pain to himself and to others. However, the attitudes expressed and the views of Jewish life and the Jewish future are clearly those of Wiesel."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Brown, Robert McAfee. Elie Wiesel: Messenger to All Humanity. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1989.
• "Elie Wiesel." Crossroads (2006). April 11, 2006. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/HOLO/ELIEBIO.HTM.
• Estess, Ted L. Elie Wiesel. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1980.
• Kaldor, Mary. "Sarajevo's Reproach." The Progressive (September 1993), 21-24.
• Knight, Robin, Eric Ransdell, and Paul Brandus. "Home Sweet Homeland." U.S. News & World Report (July 26, 1993), 38-41.

More papers on Elie Wiesel's "Night":

• Analytical Essay # 52371 : "The Use of Emotion in Elie Wiesel's "Night"
• Book Review # 100489 : "Elie Wiesel's "Night"
• Book Review # 146913 : "Faith in Elie Wiesel's "Night": Applications For The Modern Catholic"
• Analytical Essay # 62627 : "Elie Wiesel's "Night": Character Contrast"

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