The Holocaust was a terrible violent, vicious act on humans from humans. Elie Wiesel's memoir 'Night' is his record of his experiences during the Holocaust. He uses a range of techniques such as colloquialism, repetition, and first person narrative. His writing had a big emotional impact on me, making me feel sorrow, anger, and confusion. Wiesel's memoir made me think how racism can affect people all over the world. Even religion can cause these unimaginable wrongdoings.
When Elie first arrives at Auschwitz, an inmate tries to explain to him and his father about the selection and the gas chambers, "You still don't understand? You sons of bitches.... You will be burned! Burned to a cinder! Turned into ashes!" Elie uses the technique of colloquialism with the words, "You sons of bitches," to show us the inmate is frustrated and concerned because he is trying to warn them. The use of the colloquialism made me feel sad because the inmate sounded scared and angry. I felt scared for Elie and his father. If it was me, I would feel scared because what the Nazis were doing to the Jews was brutal.
When the Jews in the concentration camp are called over to watch the child get hung Elie hears a man behind him whispering, "Where is Merciful God, where is he?" The man who repeated the words 'Where is, where is' to show his desperation about the child getting hung and where is God to stop this. This made me feel angry that people could do this to innocent children. The repitition made it more real for me.
When Elie's father was getting sick leading to the end of the war he was beaten by one of the SS guards, "The officer came closer and shouted to him to be silent. But my father did not hear. He continued to call me. The officer wielded his club and dealt him a violent blow to the head. I didn't move. I was afraid, my body was afraid of another blow, this time to my head." Elie has used the technique of first person narration with 'I/my' to make it easier to imagine that awful moment for him. He also uses repetition of the word 'afraid' to emphasise what he was feeling. This made me feel very angry to know that a person had seen their father being treated like this. I was very sorry for Elie who was in fear, and Elie's father who had been beaten.
In conclusion, I feel that the Jewish people were really treated badly. I personally hope the people of our world have learnt something and we would never again treat humans in such a disgusting way. The emotional and physical damage caused was disturbing. Elie Wiesel's memoir shared his experience in such a way that it really made me feel what it must have been like. The techniques used really made me feel Elie's pain and gave me a greater understanding of this terrible event.
