Night by Elie Wiesel
Study Guide
1. How does Elie describe his father?
2. What happened to Moishe the Beadle?
3. Why did they not believe Moishe’s warning (believe what was going on)?
4. Describe the order in which the Jews gradually lost their freedom.
5. How does Elie’s father react to the news that they must wear the yellow star? What is ironic about his reaction?
6. Explain what the “ghetto” was.
7. In Chapter One, whom does Elie say he first hated?
8. Near the end of Chapter One, what evidence do we have that they are still not believing the reality of what has happened?
9. Where are Elie and his father at the end of Chapter One?
10. On page 22, Elie says, “Our eyes opened. Too late.” What is the significance of this statement?
11. What Madame Schacter’s nightmare and what does it foreshadow?
12. Where does the train finally arrive?
13. What is the “abominable smell” that greeted them there?
14. At the beginning of Chapter Three, Elie says, “ The beloved objects that we had carried with us from place to place were now left behind in the wagon and, with them, finally, our illusions.” What does he mean by that statement? Explain.
15. What was the first awful reality Elie faced there?
16. Why did the other prisoners tell Elie and his father to lie about their ages?
17. What notorious German did they see there?
18. What was in the wagon that passed by Elie and his father?
19. They begin to recite the Kaddish. What was that?
20. What is Elie’s reaction to that? How has he already changed from the boy you met in Chapter One?
21. Why do you think they put them through the motions of Killing them and then didn’t?
22. How is Elie’s faith being affected by this experience thus far? Give page number to support your answer?
23. Who and what were the Kapos?
24. How does Elie describe how he has changed near the end of this chapter?
25. What bit of good luck did Elie have where his clothing were concerned?
26. How does Elie react when his father is struck viciously for asking where the lavatory was?
27. How did Elie feel about his reaction?
28. What was the inscription over the gate into the camp? What does it mean?
29. What “permanent” indignity do they have to suffer next, which they will always carry with them? Which was specific to Elie?
30. Near the end of the chapter, Elie says he had ceased to pray. What is he feeling toward God at this point?
31. After leaving Auschwitz, where do they go next?
32. How could Wiesel have bribed the assistant to arrange for him to go with his father to a “good unit”?
33. Where was music played in the camp?
34. Who beat Eliezer in front of the French girl? Why?
35. What does Elie later learn about the French girl?
36. What lessons did Eliezer give his father and why?
37. Why was Elie beaten by the Kapo?
38. Compare Elie’s descriptions of the two hangings. Why was everyone more affected by the second one? How were they affected?
39. What is Rosh Hashanah? What was Eliezer thinking during this?
40. What is Yom Kippur? Why didn’t Eliezer fast?
41. What was the “beautiful present for the new year” the SS gave the prisoners?
42. How did Eliezer avoid selection?
43. What sort of “inheritance” gifts did Wiesel’s father give him? Why?
44. What happened to many of the prisoners when they lost faith?
45. On page 81, the sick Jewish man in the bed next to Elie states, “I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.” What is ironic and significant about this statement?
46. What happened to Zalman? How did Wiesel and his father help each other stay alive?
47. Why does Elie tell the story of Rabbi Eliahou?
48. How did Elie’s father avoid being selected at Gleiwitz?
49. Why did the two men try to throw Elie’s father from the carriage?
50. Why did the living rejoice when the order came to throw out the corpses?
51. How did the prisoners in the wagon act like animals?
52. Why didn’t Elie join in the action?
53. How did Meir Katz save Elie’s life?
54. What emotions did Elie experience as he watched his father die that last week?