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Kenneth Caselnova
Mrs. Butorac
English Foundations I Honors
22 March 2016
Rhetorical Devices
Elie Wiesel. A historic man. Wiesel beat the odds and survived his trials through the
concentration camps during World War II. As a young boy, Elie Wiesel was living in a small
town called Sighet. One day, he was taken from his home, and was placed in a labor camp called
Auschwitz with his father. They survived together, until unfortunately his father passed away.
The horrors that he saw in these camps were unbearable, nothing that anybody should ever see.
After his cruel experiences at the camp, he remained in silence for ten years after he was
liberated. After this hushed decade, Wiesel describes in his memoir Night all of the atrocities that
he had seen in the camps. Wiesel did this to inform the world on true events and horrors that he
had experienced so that the world can avoid a similar genocide in the future. The most driving
rhetoric devices that Elie Wiesel uses in the memoir Night is the use of selection of detail and
word choice throughout the story. Wiesel uses strong emotions, important events, real quotes
from events, and an immensely descriptive vocabulary to create a full image in the reader's mind.
Throughout the memoir, Wiesel choses very critical events that heavily affect both
himself and the reader. The first event that had a large impact on Wiesels life in the camps is
when they first arrived in Auschwitz. Wiesel was still inside of the cattle car when he was hit
with an awful odor. The smell of burning flesh (Wiesel 28) permeated the air. Wiesel included
this event in the story because it was foreshadowing what's to come. The flames were coming

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from the dreaded crematoriums, where innocent men, women, and children were being burned
alive. Once he made it inside the camp, an SS officer shouted, Men to the left! Women to the
right! (Wiesel 27). Wiesel describes this statement as just words spoken quietly, indifferently,
without emotion. (Wiesel 27). This is an example of an important event in the story because it
represents the first impact on Wiesel's family. He did not know that at that moment, he would
lose his mother and sisters, half of his family. He includes these events to show the reader the
excruciating pain and loss he had to bear, not only then, but the loss and pain would be endured
throughout his entire time in the camps and lifetime.
Emotions go hand in hand with the horrific events that Wiesel witnessed in the camps.
Emotions are the initial reactions that the reader feels while reading the situations, and Wiesel
does a tremendous job at targeting certain emotions to let the reader feel the pure evil of the
Nazis. Early on in the memoir, the reader can see that as a young teen, Wiesel is very emotional.
So emotional to the point that he cried when he prayed. His emotional tendencies are shown
through the extreme anger and sadness he endured while in the camps. Wiesel became extremely
saddened and angered when he witnessed his father getting hit by an officer, when a friend had
told him "Bite your lips, little brother ... Don't cry. Keep your anger, your hate, for another day,
for later. The day will come but not now ... Wait. Clench your teeth and wait ..." (Wiesel 53).
This shows the overwhelming emotions that Wiesel felt, having to force himself not to cry. One
of the most significant moments where Wiesel and the reader felt the most emotion was when his
father had passed away. Not only did it traumatize Wiesel, but it made the reader connect with
him on a personal level. He feels so hopeless to the point that he felt as if there was no longer
any reason to live, any reason to fight." (Wiesel 99). At this point he felt so much pain and

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anguish, that the reader is also able to perceive his pain on a smaller level through the strength of
his words.
Wiesel uses an immense vocabulary throughout the story to fully paint a picture in the
reader's mind of the sheer brutality and pain that the Nazis inflicted upon innocent people. Using
this rhetorical device was the only way that Wiesel was able to make the reader envision the
events in the story. Before Wiesel was removed from the ghetto, he had the opportunity to look
into a mirror. Little did he know, this would be the last time hed see himself until the end of the
Holocaust. As he looks, he sees a shape that resembled himself (Wiesel 37). His soul had
been invaded - and devoured - by a black flame (Weisel 37). The way that he describes himself,
as he sees himself, helps the reader imagine the situation that he is in. This image represents the
pain he is feeling by the image of a black fire penetrating and burning his fragile, innocent soul.
When he had made it to Birkenau, his officer had been replaced due to the kindness he showed to
the prisoners. Wiesel describes the new man as "ferocious and his aides were veritable monsters"
(Wiesel 44). By using the word ferocious and veritable monsters it allows the reader to
imagine the type of people that they were. Ferocious, defined as savagely cruel and violent,
enables the reader imagine the brutality of the acts against the prisoners. The atrocities that the
SS officers committed against the prisoners will never be forgotten by Wiesel, as well as the
reader.
Another rhetorical device that contributes to the impact of the story was the use of quotes
from the real events that happened in the camps to show the true reactions of the people to the
maniacal actions of the Nazis. One of the first things an inmate said to him after he entered the
cam, described his imminent death. He asked, Do you see that chimney over there? See it? Do

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you see those flames? (Wiesel 28). Of course Wiesel had seen them, for they were erupting
from the crematoriums. He continued, over there-that's where you're going to be taken. That's
your grave, over there (Wiesel 28). This conversation helps the reader place themselves in the
camp. They can feel the immense fear that Wiesel was experiencing, from just being told that he
was going to die. As a young teen, this is a very hard idea to grasp; death. This fear, the fear of
death, helps the reader connect to the story in a significant way, as not everyone can accept the
concept of death. Another important quote that not only describes his feelings, but also his loss of
faith in God, is when he believes that hes got more faith in Hitler than in anyone else because
he's the only one who's kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people (Wiesel 77).
Not only does this show the loss of faith in Wiesel, but also the turn in the tide for the rest of his
experiences in the camps. Wiesel's loss of faith and belief in God eventually leads to his ultimate
loss, the loss of his will to survive.
The most important rhetorical devices that Wiesel uses in his memoir are the selection of
details, which includes emotions, events, and quotes from actual situations, as well as descriptive
word choice. These rhetorical devices impact not only the reader, but also the purpose of his
story. Selection of detail and word choice provide the opportunity for the reader to paint a full
image in their mind, to visualize the horrors, while allowing the emotions to be heartfelt.

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Works Cited
Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, 2006. Print.