Holzapfel 1 Maddy Holzapfel AP English 26 October 2012 Literary Analysis of Night and Hiroshima

Spoken anonymously, History must be written of, by and for the survivors. Survivors are able to explain and teach history to individuals in no way any textbook ever could. Our society has faced countless hardships since the establishment of civilization. Some have been minor discrepancies like what land belongs to what country; unfortunately, others have not been so harmless. Two such events that come to mind from World War II are the Holocaust and the bombing of the Japanese city, Hiroshima. In Elie Wiesels memoir, Night, he reveals his story as a Holocaust survivor. John Hersey, an esteemed journalist, conveys the accounts of six individuals who endured the atomic bomb in his nonfiction piece, Hiroshima. These writers both have extremely unique writing styles that enhance their novels in numerous ways; however they also utilize similar rhetorical devices to create comparable effects. While integrating tools such as syntax and imagery into their novels, these authors bring forth vivid emotional factors, all the while relating these unforgettable historic times with precise detail. Sentence variation, word placement, and grammar choices are but a few aspects of the device, syntax. Wiesel and Hersey often incorporate this element into their novels to aid in furthering their purpose. Within Night, Wiesel is able to control the pace at which his audience reads the novel through syntax. We stood. We were counted. We got up again. Over and

Holzapfel 2 over (Wiesel 19). These brief, to the point sentences speed up the pace of the novel. In creating suspense for the readers, this style keeps them wondering what is going to happen and yearning to know more. On the other hand, Wiesel also uses elongated sentences for further specific reasons. Day after day, night after night, he went from one Jewish house to the next, telling his story and that of Malka, the young girl who lay dying for three days, and that of Tobie, the tailor who begged to die before his sons were killed (7). In the example above, Moshie the Beadle had just returned to Sighet after escaping the grips of German soldiers. He was in the process of describing the events that were occurring to fellow Jews outside of their oblivious town. Naturally, no one chose to believe him. The purpose of longer sentences is to do exactly the opposite of what short ones do; they slow down the rate of the novel. Wiesel includes sentences of this length primarily when he is describing someone or something. His audience is able to bring their attention back to the subject matter in this variation of the rhetorical device. In Herseys Hiroshima, syntax is utilized to its limit as well. Hyphens are frequently included in his writing; Hersey uses this form of punctuation to add information or further explain a topic. In doing so, he does not lose the focus of the subject of the sentence. Mr. Yoshida saw the wooden mission house-the only erect building in the area- go up in a lick of flame (Hersey 44). With the inclusion of hyphens here, Hersey is able to illustrate the destruction the atomic bomb triggered, causing the readers to feel horror and pity for those in Hiroshima at that time. In addition to featuring syntax in their novels, Wiesel and Hersey also make great use of the rhetorical device, imagery. Imagery is a prominent element in both Night and Hiroshima. Each uses this device to further engulf the reader into the story and provide them with vivid details. An obvious example of imagery in Wiesels memoir is the night, as the book is named after. The days resembled the

Holzapfel 3 nights, and the nights left in our souls the dregs of their darkness (Wiesel 100). He consistently brings up the immense lack of light in his new life as a prisoner of a concentration camp. The majority of significant events that occurred, such as his arriving at the camp and Elies father dying, all happened at night. The many ways Wiesel relates everything to the night in his memoir emphasize the tragic and horrific journey of survival he traveled. Fire is also an element of imagery in Night. On the cattle car to Auschwitz, one Jew, Mrs. Schchter, was thought to be crazy. She continually screamed things such as Look at the fire! Look at the flames! Flames everywhere (26). Her comrades eventually began to beat her. Little did they know she was foreshadowing the terrors that were to come. In this memoir, fire and flames symbolize death. It represents the millions of lives that had been, and would be, lost during the Holocaust. Imagery also is skillfully employed in Hiroshima as Hersey describes the atomic bomb that was dropped. Towards the beginning of this nonfiction piece, this explosive was labeled as a noiseless flash. By using such generic terms to depict something so devastating, the description assists in portraying the confusion of the people. None of them knew what had just hit them; all they were aware of was the force of the bomb on them. This device is also portrayed through the aftermath of the bomb. Mr. Tanimotos experiences in coming to the publics aid were by far the most vividly described in the novel. her skin slipped off in huge, glove-like pieces (Hersey 59) and the fluid from their melted eyes had run down their cheeks (67) are only a few examples of the gruesome images Hersey creates for his readers. These accentuate the horrendous effects of the bomb, thus generating feelings of shock and repulsion in the reader. The rhetorical device, imagery, as well as syntax further these novels in various ways; they contribute to the theme, the understanding of the readers, and the purposes of the authors.

Holzapfel 4 While Wiesels Night and Herseys Hiroshima are both nonfiction pieces of literature, they serve their own individual purposes. Wiesels purpose for writing his memoir is very specific. In providing his readers with a firsthand experience of what happened to him as a prisoner, he shows them a side of the Holocaust most never knew about. This event in history is widely known by most people; it is standard to learn about it during ones years of schooling. However, textbooks do not adequately describe all of the gruesome actions of the German SS soldiers in the same way that Night does. Wiesel wishes to emphasize the horrors of the Holocaust and he achieves more than that through the use of these rhetorical devices, especially imagery. Imagery also helps to reveal the theme of the memoir by stressing the darkness that slowly engulfed the hearts and souls of these cruelly victimized Jewish people. The way in which Wiesel utilizes syntax creates a greater understanding of the novel for the audience. Sentence variation is the foundation of Night, and helps the memoir to flow more freely as it is read. Herseys purpose in Hiroshima is to reveal the emotional stories of six survivors of the bombing on this once thriving city. He portrays the vastness of the bomb and the massive impact it had on the lives of those who survived it with his incorporation of imagery. An extremely broad theme for this novel is nonfiction; syntax allows the integration of numerous historic facts that are not only about the six individuals described in the novel, but about the bombing as a whole. Therefore, more information is able to be included in Hiroshima without any loss of theme. Rhetorical devices can often add various elements to a piece of writing whether it happens to be a work of fiction or nonfiction. Wiesel and Hersey never cease to make excellent use of such devices in their many writings. The employment of varied syntax and powerful imagery greatly enrich the novels Night and Hiroshima. These devices have a strong effect on

Holzapfel 5 the readers emotions and help them have some understanding of the sufferings of these helpless victims of war. They allow the readers to feel the emotional highs and lows- unfortunately, most were lows- of the characters. Overall, Night was by far more emotional and interesting to read. Although both pieces were nonfiction, therefore both providing numerous accurate details, Hiroshima was more informative on the incident as a whole, rather than focusing on the story of only one person. The shocking facts and painful events described in these two powerful works portray the horrifying and unforgettable realities of true historic events.

Holzapfel 6

Works Cited
Wiesel, Elie. Night. 1st ed. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 2006. Print. Hersy, John. Hiroshima. New York, NY: Bantam Pathfinder, 1966. Print.

Wiesel, Elie. Elie Wiesel Interview 29 1996. Academy of Achievement, Sun Valley, Idaho. . Web. 26 Oct 2012. http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/wie0int-1.