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Night is about the Nazis’ attempt to exterminate not just a religion or a particular group of people, but an entire culture—an entire way of life, a deeply-rooted set of traditions and practices. Find out more as Jenny explores Night's main motif.

Video Transcription:

Even when Eliezer wants to turn his back on his faith, even though he struggles to survive the Holocaust with his belief in God intact, there is an aspect of Judaism that sticks with him. It’s the cultural part of Judaism: Tradition. And tradition is also one of this story’s motifs.

Without a nation of their own, the Jewish people have had to find other ways to create their cultural identity. That’s why customs and traditions are so important—and why they are carefully passed down from generation to generation.

So when Hitler and the Nazis set out to exterminate the Jews, they weren’t just trying to get rid of a religion. They were trying to get rid of an entire way of life. As you’ll see at the beginning of Night, they desecrate the temple and prevent their prisoners from living the way both their scriptures, and their traditions, would have them live.

And yet, in spite of the Nazis’ attempts, tradition is woven into Eliezer’s life in a way that can’t be so easily ripped out. Even though he’s starving, Eliezer questions whether or not to fast on Yom Kippur. And though he stops saying Kaddish—a prayer that honors the dead—Eliezer can’t help but remember it.

Throughout the novel, elements of Jewish tradition appear over and over. And this motif is significant not just because it shows that Eliezer can’t forget his traditions, but because it shows how tradition helps connect him to a world and a life outside the Holocaust. One that can’t be exterminated by the Nazis.