The Holocaust was a horrific event that took place during World War 2. The book "Night" is based on this true event that happened from 1933-1945. In his Holocaust memoir, "Night", Eli Wiesel uses a range of language features including adverbs, preparation and simile to describe his experience in the concentration camp. His purpose in writing this memoir was to get people to realise what happened during the Holocaust so we don't forget or let it happen again.
One event in the memoir that affected me emotionally, was when they were removed from the ghetto. Elie and his family had to wait for the last train, as well as help the others that were lined up. While watching his family members get split up from him. "I have a bad feeling," said my mother, "This afternoon I saw new faces in the ghetto. Two German officers, I believe they were Gestapo. Since we've been here, we have not seen a single officer." The language feature in this paragraph is direct speech.
Another event that affected me was how the prisoners only got served rations of bread and soup per day. They were basically being starved. However one day a man got so hungry he stuck his face into the pot of soup and got caught in the act. For his punishment they decided to shoot him right on the spot. Heaps of prisoners were running out of the factory screaming. " Hundreds of eyes were watching his every move. Hundreds of men were crawling with
him,scraping their bodies with his on the stones. All hearts trembled, but mostly with envy. He was the one who had dared." Using repetition in this text by repeating "hundreds of" shows how many people were starving, hoping to get more food.
One event that impacted me emotionally was when Elie said, ''We were not afraid. And yet, if a bomb had fallen on the blocks, it alone would have claimed hundreds of victims on the spot. But we are no longer afraid of death; at any rate, not of that death. Every bomb that exploded filled us with joy and gave us new confidence in life.'' Hearing this balanced sentence made me think Elie was trying to say a bomb dropping on him would have been a better death after all he was going through: starving, beatings, working to the bone, grief. I felt so horrified for them.
When Elie shared his story about his dad it made me feel so sad. No one should watch their loved ones get so mistreated that it kills them. Elie's dad was beaten on a daily basis while dying. One very short painful sentence made me feel so sick, and I found it hard to understand, ''I stood petrified. What happened to me? My father has just been struck in front of me, and I have not even blinked."
Reading the book Night by Elie Wiesel really opened my eyes up to what happened to humans for just just living in a different country or having different beliefs. How can people thing that it is exceptionable to torture, and kill people for just being a different race. This book made me realise we need to make sure anything like this never happens again.
