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Nicole Berry
English
Mrs. Butorac
3-15-16
The Course of Justifying Purpose
The book Night by Elie Wiesel is a true representation of the unfortunate events that took
place in a concentration camp during the holocaust. Wiesels tone changes through a variety of
different emotions throughout the book. With the help of his unique sentence structure, different
messages can be obtained by the reader. Also by using a different rhetorical devices, mainly
rhetorical questions, he raises thought in the readers. Elie Wiesels writing about his personal
experiences from the holocaust inform the reader about the cataclysmic events that happened and
the vast amount of tragedy that took place by changing his tone, altering his sentence structure,
and using unique rhetorical devices throughout his book.

Wiesel uses different ways of constructing his sentences with appropriate punctuation and
changing simple and complex sentence structures based on an event to make the reader think.
Towards the end of the book his father dies and he seems unsatisfied because thinks he might
have found something like: Free at last!..(Weisel 112) instead of nothing. Weisel ends his
sentence with not only an exclamation point, but an ellipses to follow. By keeping the
exclamation point alone it would make the scene sound more excited and happy, when the scene
is clearly a tragic one. The ellipses adds a sense of mystery which helps die down the excitement
of the exclamation point. The mystery Wiesel creates can be a variety of things. Most likely, it
could be to create a thought in the reader and for the reader to figure out their own opinion on the
events that had just taken place.

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The mood of this story changes from through an assortment of emotions, mainly focusing
on fear, sadness, and loss to help create a connection with the reader about the true emotions
going through Wiesel's mind during the holocaust. . Wiesel struggles throughout the whole story
with different obstacles including weather, hunger, and health, which adds to the stress of his
daily life. On one day he had to have a surgery on his foot. The explains how,The operation
lasted one hour. They did not put me to sleep. I did not take my eyes off my doctor. Then I felt
myself sink... (Wiesel 79). He states he feels like he sank, which could mean a variety of
different things. The point that he began to feel the pain of the operation might have ocurred and
seriously hurt him and that this was the point he realized how bad things were getting in reality
fit best. From losing his home, to losing his family, and suffering a great deal of physical and
mental pain the reader can try to understand what kind of true pain was felt during this dark and
evil time. Wiesel shares many agonizing memories of this hard time in his life that specifically
revolve around hurting him to draw the same pain and sad emotions from the readers.

Different rhetorical techniques like rhetorical questions and figurative language are used
throughout Wiesels writing to help the reader understand a certain scene or event. Rhetorical
questions are used to provoke the reader into thinking about the questions and coming up with a
possible answer, or just to provoke thought while reading the story. At one point in the story
Wiesel is second guessing his faith and asking ,Why, but why would I bless him? Every fiber in
me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves? Because The
kept 6 crematoria working day and night, including sabbath and the holys days?. He asks these
questions almost as to persuade the reader into believing his opinions and beliefs and to explain
why he is feeling what he is feeling. The use of rhetorical questions let the reader into Wiesels

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head and learn what he is thinking and at what point of the story, which creates a connection with
the reader and author adding to the interest the reader has in the story. The amount of interest a
reader has in this story is very important in keeping Wiesels purpose which is to inform his
audience about the holocaust to prevent another revolutionarily deadly event, relevant.

Wiesel uses different ways of keeping his story clear and to the point, but still uses
appropriate techniques to draw emotion from the reader and instigate thought. He uses rhetorical
questions to create connection with the reader. He changes his sentence structure based on the
scene to keep the story focused and effective. And finally, Wiesel can incite mood in the reader
based on his writing and how he tells his story about the Auschwitz and Buna concentration
camps he was tragically forced into during the holocaust. Which all add to demonstrating his
purpose to inform and tell about the Holocaust in hopes of preventing another tragic event in
history.

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