Before his life and faith were forever altered by the Nazis, Elie Wiesel, the author of Night, was a normal boy who had a deep love for God. The Nazis employed unspeakable methods to exterminate the Jewish people, but Wiesel utilized certain symbols to convey the unimaginable horrors. Fire, in particular, stands out as a central symbol employed by the author, representing the Nazis’ power, death, loss of faith, and loss of humanity. Throughout this memoir, Wiesel skillfully uses Fire as a representation of the suffering endured by the prisoners in the concentration camp.
The German’s use of fire as a tool of violence and control over the Jews symbolizes their cruel power. In particular, the Nazis utilized crematories and guns to exterminate the Jewish people, making fire their ultimate weapon. This concept of fire also represents death and hell to Eliezer and his fellow prisoners, with the crematory being the primary medium through which this symbolism is conveyed. Witnessing the Nazis burning infants and individuals within the crematory, Eliezer associates fire with the harrowing scenes and conditions of hell. Consequently, the majority of prisoners met their demise within these infernal structures. Reflecting on his initial encounter with burning babies in a crematory, Eliezer states, “Never shall I forget that smoke.”
The faces of the children, turned into smoke under a silent sky, shall never be forgotten. The flames that consumed my faith, forever. The Nazis demonstrated their cruelty through their unlimited power of fire and crematory. Death was symbolized by the smoke from the crematory fire, even to the characters in the book. The awareness of this is expressed in the quote, “We promised him,” say the Kaddish.
Both prisoners’ lives and their faith in God were destroyed by fire. In the Bible, the Holy Spirit, who is God himself, is often depicted as fire or a tongue of fire. However, in Gehenna, the Jewish version of hell, wicked individuals are punished by fire. This concept is reversed in Night, where the wicked have power over fire and use it to harm the innocent. Witnessing the burning scene of babies made Eliezer question the existence of God. The quotes “For the first time” (page 31) and “Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes” (page 32) illustrate how the brutality of fire disturbed Eliezer’s faith in God.
Elie Wiesel illustrated the loss of humanity through the prisoners’ evolving perspective of fire and the crematory. Initially, when Eliezer and the others encountered the crematory, they wept for the deceased and dreaded their own fate. This is depicted in the quote found on page [insert page number]. Nonetheless, as their harrowing journey through the concentration camp persisted, they grew more self-centered and surrendered their sense of humanity.
In the quote, “We promised him” say the Kaddish.”(in page 73), the prisoners express their emotions towards the crematory, showing that they still had a semblance of feeling. However, they became indifferent to the suffering of others, even when faced with the death of a friend in the crematory fire. Upon arriving at Bunchunkk, the prisoners no longer felt any emotion towards the sight of the crematory; it was simply something that existed “right next”(in page 99). This indicates that they had endured and transcended all the cruelty inflicted upon them, leading them to become cold-blooded and cruel themselves. They had completely lost their sense of humanity, with self-preservation becoming their utmost priority.
