Elie Wiesel is a very devout, young boy living in Sighet at the beginning of the war. He along with the rest of the Jews refuses to believe that anything so bad as the concentration camps could happen to them. However, on Passover, the persecution of the Jews begins. At first, they are only forbidden to leave their homes. Then, they are moved into a ghetto. Soon after, they are put into cattle wagons and shipped to Birkenau where Elie is separated from him mother and younger sister. They stay at Birkenau for only a short time before transferring to Auschwitz. Finally they are moved to Buna where Elie and his father are placed in a good work unit. Here, he refuses to celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Suddenly this camp is also evacuated and the prisoners are sent to Gleiwitz. From there, they are transported to Buchenwald. It is here that his father dies on January 29, 1945. Elie is transferred to children's block until the camp is liberated on April 11,
             Fire is an important symbol in Night. Fire is a symbol of cruelty and is used as a method to kill the Jews. It also serves as a premonition of horror to come. Fire is seen several times in the novel. Madame Schaechter is the first to experience fire when she sees images of flames aboard the train. This tells of the suffering to come in the future.
             The dark of night is also very important. It symbolizes a place without form, as the world was when God began his creation. To the Jews, the world is nothing but chaos with no love or friendship. Night is a symbol of a place without God's love.
             Elie's struggle with his faith is the major theme of Night. In the beginning, Elie believes in God's unconditional love. He cannot imagine a life with out faith in a divine power. As the novel progresses, his faith is shaken. He is troubled by God's silence during the Holocaust and wonders how God can allow this to go on. As a r
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