Night Packet
Ms. Stoner
Key Concepts
- There is a segment of society that denies that the Holocaust ever occurred. After reading Night, could a reader believe that the events never happened? Why or why not?
- Is the title appropriate? Why or why not?
- Describe the relationship between Elie and his father.
- One of the effects of the camp was the dehumanization of the prisoners. Cite examples of how the prisoners were made to behave in less-than-human ways.
- One of the major themes of the novel is Elie’s inability to rationalize what is going on around him. Describe some of his thoughts as he attempts to come to grips with this awful reality.
- Why does Elie so often seem to lose faith in his spirituality?
- Why do you think Elie Weisel wrote Night? What purposes did he have in mind?
Night: Theme 1: Elie’s struggle to maintain his faith in God.
Discussion topics:
- Describe Elie’s faith in God in the beginning of the novel.
- At what point do you think that Elie’s faith started to waiver?
- What incidents can you think of that show that Elie had given up on God?
- Using what you know about the ending of the book, or the interview Oprah conducted with Elie, where do you think is faith in God is now?
Night: Theme 2: The power ofsilence
At one point, Elie says, “Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live.”
1. Explain this quote.
- Discuss the silence that they all suffered by not speaking up to help others. (You can mention the silence at Auschwitz that Oprah and Elie experienced.)
3. Give an example(s) of when being silent actually hurt others.
Night Theme 3: Inhumanity Toward Other Humans
- Provided examples of inhumanity towards others that Elie recounts in the novel.
- Explain the following statement: Cruelty breeds cruelty. Give examples of how the Jewish prisoners in the novel turn against each other.
Night Motif #1: Tradition
- Explain how Judaism is more than just a religion. It’s a culture. What does Elie and his family do other than go to the synagoge? (Example: Fasting, celebrating, etc). Does he hold onto these things once he is in the camps?
- What traditions do Elie and his family follow before they are deported?
- What traditions does Elie follow once he is in the camps?
Night Symbol #1: Fire
- Give examples of how fire is used in the novel.
- What larger meaning does fire represent?
- What Biblical story has God coming to earth in the form of a fiery bush?
Night Symbol #2: Night
- What does Darkness represent?
- Give examples of how situations were made worse simply by the fact that they occurred at night.
- Why does Elie say that his experience has been one long night?
Night
Elie Wiesel
Final Assessment
IN PARAGRAPH FORM you need to answer 3 of the 5 following questions. You are not limited to one paragraph. You must provide specific examples from the book. If a question has to be answered in terms of how you feel about something I expect MUCH more than "I don’t like it." Four-five sentence responses will not earn full credit. I want DETAILED responses. This is to be typed and must adhere to MLA formatting procedures. Dehumanization is the process by which the Nazis gradually reduced the Jews to little more than "things" which were a nuisance to them. Discuss at least three specific examples of events that occurred which dehumanized Eliezer, his father, or his fellow Jews.
- After Eliezer’s father was beaten by Idek, a Kapo, Eliezer says, "I had watched the whole scene without moving. I kept quiet. In fact I was thinking of how to get farther away so that I would not be hit myself. What is more, any anger I felt at that moment was directed, not against the Kapo, but against my father. I was angry with him, for not knowing how to avoid Idek’s outbreak. That is what concentration camp life had made of me." Discuss what the last line signifies. Discuss how his attitude had changed.
- Discuss why you think the townspeople remained complacent despite the advance of the German army.
- Discuss why Eliezer lied to Stein, his relative, about Stein’s family. Discuss whether or not you think he was morally right.
- Discuss the significance of "night" in the novel. Cite examples from the story to support your answer.
- Explain the author’s meaning when he says after the handing of the youth from Warsaw that "the soup tasted excellent that evening," yet after the pipel was hanged, "the soup tasted of corpses."