1. Themes, Symbols, and Motifs
Night Elie Wiesel
Themes, Symbols, and Motifs

2. Theme:
The message or question about life the author intends the reader to understand through reading the work.
Themes should be stated as a sentence.

3. Themes
How can one maintain faith in a benevolent God through the midst of suffering?
Why is God silent when there is human suffering?
Inhumanity toward other humans is the worst form of evil.
How important are Father - son bonds?

4. Symbol
Something used for or regarded as representing something else; a tangible or visual object representing something intangible or abstract.

5. Symbols Fire-What does this represent? Night-What does this represent?
Why do you think Wiesel chose these two visual/tangibles as symbols?
How are they present in the story from beginning to end?

6. Motif
A simple element that serves as a basis for expanded narrative. A conventional situation, device, interest, or interest found throughout literature.
Recurrent images, words, objects, phrases or actions that tend to unify the work.

7. Motifs Tradition-what traditions are important in the book?
Religious Observance-what observances are present?
How does the author use these motifs to help develop the themes?