Night: Symbolism And Significance Of Night

Discuss the symbolism and significance of the title, Night. The title Night comes up multiple times throughout the book, showing the significance of the word and the importance of its meaning. The word night is usually associated with darkness, fear, the unknown, emptiness, and cold, which is the mood of the book. During his journey to Auschwitz, Madame Shӓchter only screams about the fire at night, symbolizing the fear the took over when night arrived. Furthermore, the longer Wiesel stays in the camp, the more he realizes the nights becoming neverending. Every day is just another night, filled with darkness, fear, emptiness, and day won’t come again until freedom. The Jews have lost everything, their homes, their belongings, their family …show more content…
How much longer were our lives to be dragged out from one ‘last night’ to another?” (79) He feels that every night is a “last night” that just continues …show more content…
He refers to the reflection as “he” indicating his unfamiliarity of his appearance. On a deeper level, Wiesel no longer recognizes his own reflection because he is not the same person he once was. Auschwitz and the Nazis stole from him his identity, his family, his religion, his hope, and killed them. He no longer has faith in God or humanity. He is not the devout Jew he once was. And, in addition, the boy looking back at Wiesel is not a boy, but a corpse. A body, that was first tortured and robbed, then murdered of everything he once loved. After his father dies, Wiesel says, “I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I had no more tears,” (106). He no longer is affected by death. Wiesel is empty of feeling and emotion, for he is physically and emotionally deceased, which he sees when he look at his reflection. The look he sees never leaves him because it is a reminder of the tragedies that occurred, a reminder of all that was