What are the literary devices used in night of the scorpion?

Answer 1

Simile Enjambment Caeusara

Answer 2

Some of the literary devices used in "Night of the Scorpion" by Nissim Ezekiel include imagery (like the description of the scorpion), metaphor (the villagers as a "ring of eyes"), symbolism (the scorpion representing suffering), and repetition (repetition of phrases like "May he sit still").

Answer 3

There are many examples of irony in this story. Madame Schachter is considered crazy and annoying by the passengers on the train. She screams about the fire and about everyone being burned up, and her fellow passengers want nothing more than to silence her, thinking that she is hysterical. However, in her fear, she is the most honest and accurate about what is going to happen, as everyone realizes when they approach the camp.

Ironically, also, Eliezer talks much about having "lost" his faith and his God.

"Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my Soul"

However, despite claiming that his God has been murdered, Eliezer constantly refers to God as a witness and an essential part of his life. The quote - "I no longer accepted God's silence" - shows that he is still accepting of the existence of God, despite his previous assertions.

The irony of Eliezer's last days is very poignant. He is desperate to get out of the hospital and to join his fellow prisoners as they march from the camp; however, he learns later that he would have been quickly freed had he remained.

Wiesel uses imagery and symbolism a great deal in the book. The barbed wire that encircles the ghetto is a symbol of captivity. The yellow star that all Jews are forced to wear is a symbol of their oppression.

He also uses similes and metaphors to describe the Jews and their condition:

And there was I, on the pavement, unable to make a move. Here came the Rabbi, his back bent, his face shaved....His mere presence among the deportees added a touch of unreality to the scene. It was like a page torn from some story book ... One by one they passed in front of me, teachers, friends, others, all those I had been afraid of...all those I had lived with over the years. They went by, fallen, dragging their packs, dragging their lives, deserting their homes, the years of their childhood, cringing like beaten dogs.

He uses personification, giving inanimate objects human characteristics. In "Night," not only are the Nazis evil, but the whole world seems to have turned bad:

Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust.

Another device he uses is foreshadowing. On the train to Auschwitz, Madame Schacter's vision of fire foreshadows the furnaces at the death camp. Moshe the Beadle escapes an earlier train to return to the ghetto to tell "the story of his own death."

Source: enotes.com