Rhetorical Analysis Of Night By Elie Wiesel

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A silence was among the Jews during the Holocaust due to the fear that had overcome them. The Jews were penalized because of their religion and sent to concentration camps to work or they were burned to death. In "Night" by Elie Wiesel, a life of the hardships and terror from the Holocaust was recorded in this narrative. The prisoners were afraid of the soldiers that dictated them resulting in their own silence. Elie Wiesel uses rhetorical questions to express the main idea that God had seemed to be silent and the people started losing faith in God resulting in their own quietness. After a man and a child were hung, the Jews asked: "for god's sake, where is God?" (65). Since this is a rhetorical device, it is not meant to be answered, but meant to reveal the realization that God has seemed to be hushed. The Jews worshiped him and they didn't see an effort from God to stop the death of his people. Elie answered the rhetorical question, "where he is? This is where- hanging [there] from the gallows"(65). Elie reports to the question of the people only in his head because it was not meant to be responded to at all. Elie answered the question by concluding that the muteness they saw from God might be because he is …show more content…
Elie states that he "never shall forget the nocturnal silence" (34). The first part of the statement is being repeated to make this an Anaphoras. There was an occurring silence from the Jews that allowed the Nazis to push them around. The silence that surrounded Elie "deprived [him] for all eternity of the desire to live" (34). There was no rebellion, therefore, the Nazis knew they had the Jews under their belts. The Nazis took there lack of rebellion and used it to their advantage by making them do work, give up their valuables, and move all over the country. Their muteness may have even made things worse because the Nazis knew they could make the Jews do anything they wanted them to