Memoir Synthesis Essay Example (Night by Elie Weiser and Educated by Tara Westover)

Think about the foul smell of burning flesh in the air, family's being torn apart left and right, watching your loved one's eyes fill will dread and tears as they realize they won't ever see you again. Now think about being verbally and physically abused by the ones closest to you, your family. These occurrences each happened to Elie Weiser who wrote and the memoir “Night” and Tara Westover who wrote the Novel “Educated.” Both authors went through traumatic experiences in their lives, in different ways, but what's similar about them, is that the two both had faith and hope. The authors use of figurative language, imagery, and symbolism help convey how humans can hold onto hope even in difficult times. 

In “Night” by Elie Weizer, he has an astonishing use of Figurative language, specifically similes and metaphors. Elie Wisel uses similes and metaphors to give his reader a more vivid image of his situation.  He starts using metaphors at the beginning of the book when he says: “As for my mother, she was walking, her face a mask without a word, deep in thought” (P.19). Elie’s mother got separated from her family and presumably died because Elie never saw her (or his sisters) again. Furthermore, Wiesel uses similes later when Idek, the kapo, inflicts pain on his father: “And he began beating him with an iron bar. At first, my father simply doubled over under the blows, but then he seemed to break in two like an old tree struck by lightning” (p.54). Wiesel’s decision to use a simile here lets the reader see an older man being brutally beaten and seemingly breaking in two. If he had simply said, “My father was beaten and looked like it broke not only his bones but his spirit,” that would’ve gotten the point across but not as effectively as this simile. Although similes and metaphors alone would have given the readers a lot to think about, Wiesel used more literary devices to establish the brutality of the Holocaust.       

Imagery allows the reader to clearly see, touch, taste, smell, and hear what is happening—and in some cases even empathize with the poet or their subject. Westover uses imagery throughout her novel to convey thoughts and ideas about her childhood years. One example of auditory imagery is when in the opening page of the memoir, Tara describes that the first "memory" she has is actually a figment of her imagination. In this scene, she hears the sound of crickets as her family huddles in the kitchen, hiding from the Feds. This use of auditory imagery represents the family's physical, emotional, and ideological distance from the world. The Westover's are alone, and they are paranoid about the forces of the universe outside of Gene's control. An example of Visual imagery is used when Tara is intrigued by her older brother Tyler, who has a strong sense of individuality from a young age. She observes Tyler move around the home, attempting to organize and label their family's messy environment. Tara describes her house as "pure confusion" and explains that "piles of unwashed laundry, oily and black from the junkyard, littered the bedroom floors; in the kitchen, murky jars of tincture lined every table and cabinet..." Tara uses visual imagery to depict a detailed portrait of the Westover world. In her childhood, Tara is aware that her house and its disorganization is a physical manifestation of her home's unhealthy emotional environment. Tyler's behavior within the home foreshadows his later plan to attend BYU and turn his back on his life in Buck's Peak.  

In literature, symbolism is used to produce an impact, which it accomplishes by attaching additional meaning to an action, object, or name. In both novels, the authors accomplished this. First of all, in “Night” the book's title serves as a symbol. The worst things that happen to Eliezer occur at night. Eliezer learns that the Jews of Sighet are to be deported at night. The death march begins at night. Eliezer's father is presumed dead and taken away at night. Most significantly, Eliezer first enters a concentration camp around midnight. His first moments in the camp overwhelm him, and the impact is one he will never forget. He says the nighttime experience "turned my life into one long night seven times sealed"; night comes to symbolize death and despair. In “Educated” the mountain serves as a symbol for home that it reflects Tara's relationship with her family. Both the mountain terrain and Tara's family pose threats, as Tara suffers abuse from her brother. Additionally, the mountain represents the home Tara eventually creates for herself in the outside world, outside that of her family.  The authors use symbols that tie to themes of each book. 

The use of Figurative language, imagery, and symbolism all were conveyed into ideas that helped the readers have a much better understanding of the book. Hope comes and goes and to have hope is to want an outcome that makes your life better in some way. It not only can help make a tough present situation more bearable but also can eventually improve our lives because envisioning a better future motivates you to take the steps to make it happen. Without hope, these authors would've never made it to where they are today.