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What are five non-Jewish allusions in Elie Wiesel's Night?
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In Elie Wiesel's Night, there are several non-Jewish allusions. These include the Jewish exile in Babylon, the Romans' destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 CE, the Jews' exile from Egypt during Passover, the angel Azrael from the Old Testament, and the biblical story of Abraham's called sacrifice of his son, Isaac. These allusions are used to draw parallels between historical events and the Holocaust.
There are many Biblical allusions in Night. For example, there are references to the Jewish exile in Babylon, a story told in the Bible. When Elie describes the way in which the Jewish community is forced to leave Sighet, he says, "Saturday, the day of rest, was the day chosen for our expulsion" (21). This expulsion recalls the Jewish exile in Babylon. Another event, the closing of the town's synagogue--Elie says, "The synagogues were no longer open" on page 10--is an allusion to Romans' destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE.
Later, Elie writes of the arrival of the Nazis in his town, "On the seventh day of Passover, the curtain finally rose: the Germans arrested the leaders of the Jewish community" (10). The fact that the Nazis' actions begin around Passover is an allusion to the destruction of the temple in ancient times (as the...
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Romans began their attack on Jerusalem right before Passover), and it's also an allusion to the Jews' exile from Egypt during Passover, told in the Biblical book of Exodus.
When Elie and his father are being marched towards the pit in the concentration camp, Elie says, "My heart was about to burst. There. I was face-to-face with the Angel of Death" (34). The Angel of Death alludes to the angel Azrael in the Old Testament. Later, in a harrowing scene, Elie walks by the hanging body of a dead boy who the Nazis put on the gallows, saying "Then the entire camp, block after block, filed past the hanged boy and stared at his extinguished eyes, the tongue hanging from his gaping mouth" (62-63). This scene is in part an allusion to the Biblical story of Abraham, who is called by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac.