Night
photo from jsu.edu

This picture makes me think of the anxiety Elie must have had towards the night time. When morning hit he must have felt a huge amount of relief. Everytime night would fall something bad would happen or the inmates would have to endure something terrible.

Night time symbolizes a time without God's presence because in the beginning of the world God said, "Let there be light!", in order to rid the world of darkness. The day Elie arrives at the camp him and his father witness the cruelty of thousands of babies being burnt in a ditch. The book not only represents the physical darkness but the emptiness of the soul. To me, an empty soul is very scary.