Elie Wiesel uses a multitude of symbols in his book, Night, so he can communicate with us what he was really feeling during the Holocaust. Out of all of these symbols, there are a few that are particularly used more often than the others. These are fire, tears or water, and soup.
The use of fire in Night stands out more than other things in the book. First, Mrs. Schächter shouts on and on about fire in the trains to Auschwitz, she repeatedly says, "Look at the fire! Look at the flames! Flames everywhere..." (Pg 26). Later, when Elie and his father are off the train, they head toward the crematorium and can feel the heat coming from it, they say on pg 33,"From which an infernal heat was rising", referring again to the crematorium. Both of these quotes talk about fire representing the end of life because the crematorium is made of it. It is also symbolizing destruction in the camps because of its ability to obliterate things out of existence.
On a completely different hand, water symbolizes being happy and being satisfied. On page 96 people are finally happy to have their thirsts quenched and to have this small reprieve from hunger by eating the snow that had begun to fall on top of other peoples backs, it says,"Someone had the idea of quenching his thirst by eating snow." Again on page 63 Elie says,"I never saw a single victim weep." Which shows the victims happiness to finally be able to move on past the camp, and onto a new life. This water or tears in these quotes show the bond between friends, family, and strangers all trapped inside the camp.
Finally, the last major symbol in this book is soup because of the ways the author contradicts them throughout the book. On page 63, Elie says,"The soup tasted better than ever" then later on page 65 he says,"That night, the soup tasted of corpses." Which shows how the soup would often reflect the feelings of Elie and the general mood of the camp. For example, when the little boy is hung in the camp for supposedly being in a rebel group, the soup tastes of corpses. This is just one of the many ways Elie Wiesel uses symbols to show the mood of the book.
Throughout the book, the author uses symbolism as a way to communicate the mood, setting,and general feelings of the way people would see the world in this book. He also uses contradictions, as shown in the fire and water symbols, to show what he really means in Night. Even the title,'Night', has a deeper meaning behind it. The name of Elie Wiesel's book shows that because the night is dark, their world has begun to spiral into darkness because of all the sudden changes.These are some of the hundreds of hidden meanings and symbols in Night.
