1. Throughout the text night is used to symbolize death. When they arrive at the camp it is night and they are engulfed in the smell of burning bodies, and they watch bodies being dumped into the flames. During the evening that the little angel boy is hanged the soup tastes like corpses, which is another symbol of death. 

2. Night is also used to symbolize Wiesel’s loss of faith. It is during the first night that he gets to camp that his faith is really tested, and throughout the novel his loss in faith becomes more apparent. “For the first time, I felt revolt rise up in me. Why should I bless His name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent. What had I to thank Him for?” (page 31) This is the first time Elie really voices his loss of faith, after his father recites a prayer when Elie says he will run to the electric wire and kill himself. 

3. Wiesel also uses night to symbolize the darkness inside of people. This is first seen when the Jewish people are on the train headed for the camp, and Mrs.Schachter begins screaming about the fire. “But it was in vain. Our terror was about to burst the sides of the train. Our nerves were at breaking point. Our flesh was creeping. It was as though madness were taking possession of us all. We could stand it no longer. Some of the young men forced her to sit down, tied her up, and put a gag in her mouth...Once more the young men tied her up and gagged her. They even struck her. People encouraged them.” (pages 23-24) Elie uses this to show how her screaming and “hallucinations” brought out the darkness in people, they were all friends and neighbors, and yet they turned on her and began to beat her. Elie uses night to show that everyone has darkness inside of them, and certain situations bring it out in them.