Describe at least one important technique used in the text. Explain how the technique created an emotional response in you.
In his book Night, Elie Wiesel wrote about his experiences in the Holocaust. In his memoir he uses techniques such as repetition and first person narration. These techniques created an emotional response in me, making me feel sad, shocked and annoyed.
On his first night in the concentration camp Elie saw horrible things like children being thrown into a fire, "Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky." A technique Elie Wiesel uses is repetition of the words 'Never shall I forget' to show how dramatic it all must have been. It made me feel very sad to imagine that any human being had gone through such horrific experiences.
When Idek the kapo was beating his father Elie did nothing, "I had watched it all happening without moving. I kept silent." He uses the technique of first person narration with the first person pronoun 'I'. We see the situation through Elie's eyes, from his point of view. I felt shocked and annoyed because he couldn't do anything to help his father. I think if I was in his situation I would probably have done the same.
After Elie's father died, he didn't care about anything, "Since my father's death, nothing mattered to me anymore." Again he uses first person narration with 'my/me'. Using this technique gave me a better understanding of the impact on Elie after his father's death. This made me feel sad because his father didn't make it.
Elie Wiesel used techniques like repetition and first person narration to tell us about unhappy and terrible things that happened during the Holocaust. His writing made me feel upset and sad. I hope that this kind of event does not keep on happening.
