Night Flashcards
by Elie Wiesel
“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed … Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never … I did not deny God’s existence, but I doubted his absolute justice.” (Chapter 3)
Wiesel and his alter ego witnessed things that no one should ever see, especially a teenage boy. He used to be a strong believer in God, but after the traumatic experiences he went through, he started questioning God’s power. How could someone with so much power allow such things to happen? In this passage, Wiesel repeats the phrase “Never shall I forget” three times to emphasize the book’s main theme, which is to never forget. This repetition is a poetic device called an anaphora, where a word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of successive sentences or clauses to highlight an idea.
” ‘Do you see that chimney over there? See it? Do you see those flames? (Yes, we did see the flames.) Over there—that’s where you’re going to be taken. That’s your grave, over there.’ “ (Chapter 3)
The flames rose 24 hours a day from the incinerators. After the Jews were killed in the gas chambers by Zyklon B, their bodies were immediately taken to incinerators to be burned into black, charred dust.
” ‘Men to the left! Women to the right!’ … Eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion. Eight short, simple words. Yet that was the moment when I parted from my mother.” (Chapter 3)
Men, women, and children were typically separated upon arrival at the camps; staying in the line to the left meant accepting forced labour under terrible conditions in exchange for a brief period of survival. A trip to the gas chamber and instant death were frequently associated with the line to the right. Though Wiesel was unaware of it at the time, this was the final time he would see his mother and sister. He remembered his sister had on a crimson coat. A pit filled with burning newborns was one of the many tragedies that Eliezer and his father saw.
