Syntax in Night by Elie Wiesel Essay Sample

In his memoir Night, Elie Wiesel utilizes unpredictable syntax to mirror the fluctuations in his relationship with his father, ultimately exploring the connection between societal influences and the natural journey of interrelation. Elie speaks less aware of his father since his father was too busy dealing with their community, to even notice his family. Throughout the book, Elie and his father, along with many other Jews were dehumanized, tortured, and horrifically taunted as a consequence of being a Jew. After marching for days with barely any food, water, or shelter, the Jews had reached a stop, as they waited to “take a shower” Elie felt as if “[he] could have screamed in anger.” He was enraged with his father’s growing weaknesses, that he began thinking about “hav[ing] lived and endured so much; was [he] going to let [his] father die now? Now that [they] would be able to take a good hot shower and lie down? ‘Father!’ [he] howled. ‘Father! Get up! Right now! You will kill yourself…’”(105). Throughout the memoir, Elie Wiesel uses strategic syntax to convey a desperate tone. Elie utilizes syntax by linking the two independent aspects, life, and death, implying that all the Jews in the Holocaust believed in life being just as equal to death. There are also significant ellipses that create many looming assumptions. Elie contemplates a deep thought on the societal use of his father, emphasizing the idea that he is wondering about them both being better off without him, or more specifically, that he is trying to comprehend the unfathomable idea of life without his father. Elie makes the more dynamic markings significantly more important by not being diverse in punctuation, especially when he uses the exclamation point not once, but three times. Elie forces the reader to infer that he wants and needs his father, not only for him to get up but to go back to his health, personality, and normal self. By doing so Elie successfully adds a desperate tone, indicating the growth in their journey of interrelation. From barely talking to each other, to Elie begging his father to stay with him, they truly grew closer together as society became more deceitful. As time went on and Elie’s father grew sick with dysentery, as his father and others began to rapidly die they grew closer together and established a stronger bond. At the same time, they also began to fall apart as Elie’s father became a burden to Elie and his possibility of survival. As Elie’s father lies on his deathbed he cries for Elie’s help, and after he sadly passes Elie recalls the devastating fact that “His last word had been my name. He had called out to me and I had not answered. I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!...” (112). By utilizing structure and punctuation Elie successfully takes advantage of syntax to drive tone and imagery. Elie makes the subject of the first two subjects “His” and “He,” and they are addressing Elie, which is signified by the words “me” and “my” but then abruptly changes the subject of the sentence to “I,” resembling the guilt of his father’s death and the exaggeration in resembling the past actions and deaths. Also, the use of a semicolon exemplifies that there were many overwhelming thoughts Elie was diligently scrutinizing throughout the whole memoir and more specifically in the moment of his father’s death, but at the time the most significant statement he could remember was thinking “Free at last.”  The use of capitalization signifies that Elie shows a subtle pride in freedom, which makes him feel guilty after his father’s death. It also shows his drastic change from the beginning of the book and the beginning of the Holocaust as well, from an innocent young boy to a man of pride after the tragic loss of his father. Plus, Elie creates a parallel between the seemingly unnecessary capitalization of “free” to the evolution of his mindset and relationship with his father. Finally, when Elie uses an exclamation point then ellipses he incorporates purposeful syntax to convey multiple emotions. In conclusion, Elie Wiesel, in his memoir Night creates unpredictable syntax to mirror the oscillations in his relationship with his father, ultimately exploring the connection between the pressure built into society and how it may impact varying relationships, Elie highly incorporates simple gestures in language that further impact the interpretation of certain moments in his relationship with his father.