Fire
Photo from completeoutdoorconstruction.com

In the book, fire meant something terrible, nothing good became of it. Elie probably related fire on water to the horrible things happening because he couldn't do anything about them. It made me think of the oil spill and how no one knows what to do to fix it so they let it grow and grow until animals begin to die. This is similar to the holocaust because people knew they were going to be taken away from their houses but they didn't know what else to do.

In the Bible and the Jewish tradition, fire is always a symbol of strength and God. He appears in a burning bush to Moses and angels have fire on their sword. The way Elie looks at fire changed the day he stepped foot in the concentration camp. He always pictured the evil being punished with fire, but in the book the evil ones have the fire.