Flames Motif in the book 'Night' by Elie Wiesel

It's strange how contrasting the idea of flames can be. At times they are associated with warmth, happiness, light, families gathered around a hearth and really all the happy feelings in the world but then again the flipside is this book. If one were to come into this story with these ideas about what fire symbolizes, their perception of such would quickly change form. Even without getting that far into the story, one can already …

…quite the opposite in that it is controlled by the Nazi's who use it to execute mass amounts of murder in small amounts of time. And so even though the sight of the flames, which could have at one time been associated with any kind of happy feelings, is visible all throughout the camp, those who look upon it shiver with fear rather than bubble with joy when staring into the depths of the flames.