Elie Wiesel’s Night

Pre-Reading Vocab

Memoir

(n) a work of literature in which the author writes about one specific event or time period in his/her life.

How is this different from a biography or autobiography? Answer in the space below:An autobiography is about a person’s entire life, whereas a memoir is about a single event or time period in that person’s life.

Preface VocabDisinter (v) to remove or dig up; exhume

Intrinsic (adj) belonging to a thing by its very nature

Elusive (adj) difficult to find

Profaned (v) to treat (anything sacred) with irreverence or contempt; violate the sanctity of

Superfluous (adj) being more than is sufficient or required; excessive

Cynical (adj) bitterly or sneeringly distrustful, contemptuous, or pessimistic

Sadistic (adj) deriving pleasure from extreme cruelty

Relegated (v) to send or consign to an inferior position, place, or condition

Double-Entry JournalQuotation My thoughts

“Only those who experienced Auschwitz know what it was. Others will never know” (Wiesel ix).

“To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time” (Wiesel xv).

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Chapter 1 Vocab

Beadle (3) A caretaker or “man of all work” in a synagogue

Penury (3) (n) extreme poverty; destitution

Kabbalah (3) Jewish mysticism. Followers believe that every aspect of the Torah has hidden meanings that link the spiritual world to everyday life. The teachings of the kabbalah can be found in the Zohar, which was compiled in the thirteenth century.

Observant (3) (adj) adhering strictly to rituals, ceremonies, laws, etc

Talmud (3) From a word that means study or learning. A collection of rabbinical teachings and commentaries on the Torah, the Five Books of Moses.

Maimonides (4) A great Jewish scholar who lived in the twelfth century.

Zohar (5) The Book of Splendor; a commentary on the Five Books of Moses & the major work of the cabbala.

Err (5) (v) to go astray in thought or belief; be mistaken; be incorrect

Fascist party (9) A member of Hitler’s party that has dictatorial or has extreme right-wing views.

Nyilas party (9) Also called the Arrow Cross Party, was the Hungarian Nazi Party and ruled Hungary from October 1944-January 1945.

Billeted (9) (n) lodging for a soldier, student, etc., as in a private home or nonmilitary public building

Red Army (12) The Soviet army.

Shavuot (12) A festival that commemorates God’s giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses.

Treatise (12) (n) a formal and systematic exposition in writing of the principles of a subject, generally longer and more detailed than an essay

Antechamber (13)

(n) a chamber or room that serves as a waiting room and entrance to a larger room or an apartment

Phylacteries (16) Two small leather boxes containing four excerpts from the Bible. One box is strapped to an arm and the other to the forehead during weekday morning prayers. Tefilin help religious Jews focus their entire being on God as they recite their weekday morning prayers.

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Surreptitiously (16)

(adv) obtained, done, made, etc., by stealth; secret or unauthorized; clandestine; acting in a stealthy way.

Conflagration (21)

(n) a destructive fire, usually an extensive one

Plot DiagramThis chapter of Night is the part of the plot structure called the exposition. In an exposition we are introduced to the characters, the setting, and the general understanding of what is going on in the story. We end this chapter by being introduced to the conflict. Complete the information below.

Exposition Conflict

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What is the setting of the story?

Sighet, HungaryBeginning of the HolocaustEarly 1940s

Who are some of the characters that we are introduced to?

Moishe the BeadleElizer Wiesel (Elie)Sisters: Bea, Hilda, TziporaElie’s mother and father

What is going on in the story? What background are you given about the town? The people? Their circumstances?

In a small Jewish town. The Nazis are coming. They are forced into ghettos and then into concentration camps.

What is the conflict of this story? Are there multiple problems? Why is the problem occurring? Use details from the text to support your answer.

The Holocaust is beginning and so they are being forced out of their homes and into concentration camps.

Character Study on NightFor each of the characters listed below, fill in the appropriate information and quotes using your book. Keep this chart in your notes. This will also be an important study guide for you at the end of our unit.

Character’s Name

How would you characterize me?

What did I say or do to help you conclude this?

Eliezer Wiesel -educated

-religious"I was thirteen and deeply observant" (Wiesel 3).

Elie’s father -respected-high-ranking-educated-naive

"...his advice on public and even private matters were frequently sought" (Wiesel 4).

Moishe the Beadle -religious

-kind-unnoticed

"He had mastered the art of rendering himself insignificant, invisible" (Weisel 3).

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Study Guide Questions – Chapter 1

1. On page 3, which line contains a simile? Write it below."Physically, he was awkward as a clown" (Wiesel 3).

2. What steps did the Germans take to limit the Jew’s freedom and to deport them to concentration camps?-couldn’t go to the movies; wear a yellow star; couldn’t take the bus; weren’t allowed to walk on the sidewalk; forced into ghettos

3. Why did the people refuse to believe Moishe’s story? -seemed so unrealistic in a modern society

4. Reread the second paragraph on page 7 (“Moishe was not the same.”). Why do you think Moishe changed?witnessed such evil, that he lost his faith

5. What is the tone on page 8?skepticalincredulous

6. What is meant by, “The ghetto was ruled by neither German nor Jew; it was ruled by delusion” (Wiesel 12).-ruled by the thought and belief that they would be safe and the war would end soon.

7. Aside from the simile on page 3, find one other example of a simile and one of a metaphor and write them in the space below. Be sure to note the page number they appear on. What was Wiesel’s purpose for using those examples?

a. Simile:

i. Explanation:

b. Metaphor:

i. Explanation

8. Imagery is used throughout this chapter. Which image stood out to you the most? Why? Describe what you visualized and use details from the text to support your response. Be sure to use proper parenthetical citation.

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A First Look at the Style of the AuthorAn author’s style can be described as the particular way in which a literary work is written. Style refers not to what is said but to how it is said. Elements that contribute to a writer’s personal style include the following: word choice (also called diction), sentence length, structure and variety; tone, imagery, and dialogue.How would you describe Wiesel’s style of writing? Cite specific phrases or sentences to support your answer.

1. Elie Wiesel’s NarrativeThe novella is a short piece of fiction that is based on the author’s 800-page memoir of his time in the Nazi death camps. The shortened tale is told from a first-person limited point of view. There is no attempt to enter other minds and little attempt to explain what is on the narrator’s mind.

EXAMPLE: ”My father was crying. It was the first time I saw him cry. I had never thought it possible” (19).

-1st person -a son sharing a memory of his father -did not express how the father was feeling

2. Elie Wiesel’s Use of SemanticsThe struggle of representing the unrepresentable horror, as Wiesel discovered, is best accomplished with few words and plenty of blank space. Words are used sparingly and, when possible, blank space is used instead.

EXAMPLE:“There was nobody outside” (14) <blank space>-Important moment where Wiesel reflects on how close they were to escape.

3. Anti-bildungsromanTraditionally, the bildungsroman in German literature is the story of a young, naïve, man coming to an understanding of the realities of the world. He finds his adventure but it provides him with an important lesson. The denouement finds him happy, wiser, and ready for a productive life.

Wiesel’s novella turns this tradition on its head. He presents an educated young man forced into a hell made by human hands.

What does the young Wiesel learn?-cruelty of man

How will he live the remainder of this life?-lost his faith-carrying the burden of the memories of these atrocities-“Learns” or “Understands” only how sad/terrible life is.Chapter 2 Vocab

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Hermetically (24)

(adv) made to be airtight

Pious (24) (adj) being very spiritual or religious

Abyss (25) (n) a deep, immeasurable space

Close Reading Questions – Chapter 2Respond in complete sentences to the following close reading questions for pages 23-28. For questions 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 & 8 give a line directly from the text to help support your answer. These questions should be answered as a chunk (1 concrete detail with 2 sentences of commentary).

1. Describe the conditions inside the freight car (pg 23).-very little air; overcrowded-unsanitary-had to take turns sitting down

2. What was the most crowded you have ever been? What did you feel?

3. What does Madame Schachter repeatedly say (pgs 24-26)?

-Fire!!!!!!!

4. Explain how Madame Schachter’s cries are foreshadowing.

-When they get off the train, they all see the chimneys at the camp (the smokestacks in the buildings where they burn the dead bodies of the Jews)

(Questions continue on next page)5.

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a. How do the Jews react to their situation in the freight cars (pgs 26-27)?

-They beat Mrs. Schachter for incessantly screaming about fire (turning on one another)

b. How is their behavior “appropriate” for the situation they are in?

-They are scared; self-preservation; protect her and themselves

6. What do you know or have you ever heard about Auschwitz?

Largest camp & the most amount of Jews were killed there

7. On page 27, what did the Jews think about life in Auschwitz?

-At first they felt confident b/c they would not be separated from their families.

8. On page 28, everyone finally sees the flames coming from the chimneys. If they are correct that Auschwitz is simply a work camp, what might cause these flames?

-burning bodies

(Questions continue on next page)

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9. Read the following excerpt from page 28 and answer the questions below:

Mrs. Schachter had fallen silent on her own. Mute again, indifferent, absent, she had returned to her corner.

We stared at the flames in the darkness. A wretched stench floated in the air. Abruptly, our doors opened. Strange-looking creatures, dressed in striped jackets and black pants, jumped into the wagon. Holding flashlights and sticks, they began to strike at us left and right, shouting:

“Everybody out! Leave everything inside. Hurry up!”We jumped out. I glanced at Mrs. Schachter. Her little boy was still holding

her hand.In front of us, those flames. In the air, the smell of burning flesh. It must

have been around midnight. We had arrived. In Birkenau.

A. Can you visualize what Eli and the others must have seen? (DRAW an image here):

B. If you can see the image, what is your reaction? If you cannot imagine it, why not? Respond in at least 3 sentences.

C. “Night” has been mentioned several times in the novel so far. Why do you think “Night” is the novel’s title?

-Night and darkness is associated with depression and sadness-They arrived at Auschwitz at night-Everything terrible/major has happened at night-Their future was dark

Aim: How does the reader see conflicts begin to emerge in the first two chapters of the novel?

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Do Now: Put yourself in Eli’s position; how would you react to being told you must pack all of your possessions and leave on a moment’s notice? Write the emotions, thoughts, and feelings you would have.

Select events from the first two chapters and identify how they illustrate a conflict or could contribute to a conflict later on in the novel. Include what kind of conflict is evident as well as what information the reader gets as a result.

Event Type of Conflict Explanation Info the Reader Gets

No one believes the story that Moishe the Beadle tells about what happened in Hungary.

Man vs. society No one believed something this terrible could happen in a civilized society.

This is one reason how the Nazis were able to pull this off.

The Germans enter Sighet and enforce edicts (rules) on the Jewish people.

Society (The Jews) vs. Society (The Nazis)

The first step in the Nazis’ plan was to take away the rights of the Jews.

The systematic approach Hitler was taking to carry out his plan.

The Jews are forced into ghettos.

Society (The Jews) vs. Society (The Nazis)

This made it easier for the Nazis to eventually move the Jews to the concentration camps

The systematic approach Hitler was taking to carry out his plan.

The Jews of Society (The It’s shocking that It seems like few 10

Sighet were deported to concentration camps

Jews) vs. Society (The Nazis)

many were still in denial and thought that they would be safe.

people put up a fight against the Nazis, most likely due to fear.

They were sealed in cattle cars with overcrowding and unsanitary conditions.

Man vs. Man This was just another way the Nazis treated the Jews as less than human.

It’s upsetting to think that any human was capable of this. This lets the reader know that worse things are to come.

Mrs. Schachter was screaming about a fire that no one else could see

Woman vs. society

The people began to do things that they normally wouldn’t do b/c of the extremity of the situation.

This is foreshadowing the crematoriums that they will encounter.

They smell the burning flesh in the air around Auschwitz.

Society (The Jews) vs. Society (The Nazis)

The fear that they must have felt!

This is the first sign of the horrors that they will have to endure.

How do the developing issues and conflicts foreshadow what is to come for Elie, his family, and the other Jews?

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Chapter 6 Questions

1. As the prisoners ran through the night, what orders were the S.S. guards under?

The guards were ordered to shoot anyone who could not keep up.

2. “Death enveloped me, it suffocated me” (86). This is an example of which literary element?Because something that is not human or alive, Death, is given qualities of an animate object, the quote is an example of personification. Use of personification here helps Wiesel emphasize the insidiousness that death seemed to have.

3. Although Elie felt that he could have easily given up and died, why did he run on?He ran for his father’s sake. “What would he do without me?” he asked.

4. Given the situation and their physical condition, what was remarkable about their night’s journey?They covered 22 kilometers in one day. They pushed themselves physically to the brink, in conditions that a well-trained athlete would have difficulty doing and they were malnourished and dehydrated and underdressed.

5. Some time later, Elie was awakened by his father. Why would he not let Elie sleep?He was afraid that if Elie really slept in the snow, he would never wake up.

6. What agreement did Elie and his father reach?Elie and his father agreed that they would watch out for each other and not let the other fall asleep.

7. Who was Rabbi Eliahou looking for?The Rabbi was trying to find his son who had been with him in the camps for three years.

8. Elie told the Rabbi that he had not seen his son, but later remembered that he had indeed seen the boy. What else did Elie remember about the Rabbi’s son?

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The son had seen his father slowing down and falling to the rear of the column of prisoners, but the son continued to run. Elie realized that the Rabbi’s son had wanted to get rid of his father.

9. What did Elie do in response?He prayed for the strength never to abandon his own father.

10. The second night’s march is different from the first in what ways?Discipline was not enforced, and the guards no longer shot the slower prisoners.

11. When the prisoners finally reached their destination of Gleiwitz, a new danger arose. What was it?The men were in danger of being crushed to death or smothered by the bodies of the dead, the dying, and the still living.

12. Who was the boy underneath Elie?It was Juliek, a Polish boy who played the violin

13. Some time during the night, what did Elie hear?Someone, probably Juliek, was playing the violin.

14. After three days, what happened?The prisoners were driven out of their barracks and marched to a railroad line to await the arrival of a train.

15. How did some of the prisoners try to distance themselves from the grim reality of their existence?Some separated themselves through music, some with religion, and some by refusing to think about it.

16. This chapter is about hardship, perseverance, caring and not caring. List some quotes to support this generalization.“Come father…I’ll watch over you, and then you can watch over me.”

“Under our feet were men crushed, trampled under-foot dying. No one paid any attention.”

“He [the Rabbi’s son] wanted to get rid of his father…in order to get rid of the burden”

“Give me strength never to do what [the Rabbi’s] son has done.”

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Chapter 7 Questions

1. After the transport train stopped in the middle of a field, what orders were given?The prisoners were ordered to throw out all the dead.

2. How did the prisoners respond? How did Elie save his father’s life?They were glad to throw out the corpses since it meant more room for the living and more clothes because the bodies were stripped naked.

Two men, thinking that the old man was dead, were going to throw the father off the train, but Elie revived him.

3. How long did they travel?For 10 days and nights they traveled in the open cattle cars. During this time the prisoners were not fed.

4. At one stop, a workman tossed a piece of bread. What happened? How can you account for the prisoner’s actions?The prisoners began to fight with each other for the scrap of food.

They were crazed with hunger; rational behavior seemed beyond the reach of most, but Elie and his father still seemed to be able to weigh risks and rewards.

5. What happened next?More workmen & curious spectators began throwing pieces of bread to the prisoners and watched as they fought for the food.

6. Why do you suppose Elie then tells the story about the woman throwing coins to the natives?He is making it clear that the actions of the workmen were not acts of charity.

7. Throughout this chapter, how does Elie view the average German civilian?He has told us several times that German civilians observed the inmates, but were not surprised or horrified by what they saw. German workmen enjoyed the spectacle. One infers that Wiesel considers them as guilty of this horror as any of the S.S.

8. What scene did Elie witness? At the end of this scene, why do you suppose Elie tells us that he was sixteen?A son beat his father to death for a scrap of bread. Then the son was beaten by others. The corpses of the father and son lay next to Elie. It is a horrific scene to be witnessed at any age, but at 16, it is going to stay with him a long, long time.

9. During the last day of their journey, what happened?

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A bitterly cold wind arose, and it continued to snow. The men knew that they could not hold out much longer and began wailing, groaning, and crying.

10. Of the 100 men who had gotten on the train with Elie, how many got out? What does the death of Meir Katz suggest?Twelve. Survival had to do with more than just physical condition.

11. Where did the remaining prisoners finally arrive?They were now in Buchenwald, another concentration camp located in Germany.

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Chapter 8 Questions1. After they arrived, the prisoners were supposed to shower. What did

Elie’s father want to do?He wanted only to lie down in the snow to sleep and die.

“I can’t…I shall die right here”2. Why did Elie shout at his father?

He wanted to keep him from giving up.

“…to have lived and endured so much?”3. What finally forced them inside?

The sirens sounded an alert, & the guards drove the prisoners toward the blocks.

4. The next day when Elie went in search of his father, what was his fleeting hope?He hoped he would not find his father so that he could use all of his strength for his own survival.

“If only I were relieved of this responsibility…”5. Weakened further by dysentery, the father could not get out of his

bunk. What further injury did some of the inmates do to him?They beat him and stole his food.

6. What advice did the block leader give Elie?The man tells Elie: “Don’t forget that you’re in a concentration camp. Here, every man has to fight for himself & not think of anyone else. Even of his father. Here, there are no fathers, no brothers, no friends. Everyone lives and dies for himself alone.”

7. Of the advice, Elie says—“He was right, I thought in the most secret region of my heart…” In what sense was the block leader right?His advice was practical and logical; in the animal kingdom the instinct to survive is the strongest drive; apparently Elie hung on to his humanity because he ran to find some soup for his father.

8. After lying ill for over a week, what finally happened to Elie’s father?A German officer, trying to silence him, hit Elie’s father violently on the head with a truncheon. Some time during the night, he was carried, to the crematory.

9. Why wasn’t Elie able to do anything to pay his final respects?His father was taken away while he was sleeping.

10. What words does Elie utter upon his father’s death?“free at last” ….he thought those words.

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Chapter 9 Questions1. How long was Elie’s stay at Buchenwald? What were his thoughts

during this time?From mid-January until April 11, Elie was a prisoner at Buchenwald. After the death of his father, he felt nothing and thought only of food.

2. How did the prisoners know that the end of the war was near?The guard was late in arriving to count the prisoners. The guards had never been late before.

3. What did the prisoners think was going to happen to them?The prisoners thought Hitler was going to keep his promise, and that all the Jews would be executed.

4. What did the Germans decide to do with the prisoners?They were all to be evacuated (sent to the gas chambers), ten blocks each day.

5. Before all the prisoners could be evacuated, though, what happened?The resistance organization decided to fight back against the Germans. The Germans fled, & the resistance was now in charge of the camp.

6. Several hours later, what happened?American soldiers arrived at Buchenwald.

7. What comments did Wiesel make about the prisoners’ actions after liberation?He noted that there was no thought of revenge.

8. What happened to Elie after liberation?He got food poisoning 3 days after liberation and spent 2 weeks deathly ill.

9. What does the last line of this book suggest?Wiesel says that the look in the eyes of the “corpse” that gazes back at him from the mirror has never left him. Those eyes that saw so much horrific suffering and death still feel the pain, and see the suffering that will always stay with him.

10. Why do you suppose that Wiesel always refers to his persecutors as Germans or S.S., but never Nazis?

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There are some who say that it was not the German people, but the Nazis who were responsible for the Holocaust. Wiesel does not share that opinion.

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