MAX

//NIGHT// PREREADING ACTIVITY

Imagine yourself in the following situation: You and your family have been driven from your home. Now separated from them, you are suddenly alone. Shoved into a train like cattle, you are surrounded by screaming women, weeping children, silent old men, and ruthless soldiers. There is no food, no water, horror, and madness everywhere. Having arrived at your destination, you smell the stench of burning flesh: babies, children like yourself. Men and boys are hanged daily. There is only soup and perhaps a few morsels of stale bread to eat. You work until exhausted and are beaten for not marching in step. The gold in your teeth is extracted without anesthesia. Frozen and broken bodies surround you. Weekly you must run like a madman to escape being selected to die in the gas chambers or to burn in the crematory. You can’t even wonder if it will end, and you know that God has deserted you. You try to survive each day and lie through each night!

1. Do you believe something like this could ever happen to you? Why or why not? I don't want to believe this, but i do. It didn't happen that long ago and this happened to people just like me. It is so terrible that anything to this degree could ever happen. 2. What would be your first reaction to this horrifying experience? I would be shocked. I wouldn't even know what was happening, because something like this seems so unreal and not believable. 3. What means might you use to deal with what is happening (example: would you lie, cheat, steal)? I would do anything to try to get me out of this mess. Even of i did cheat, lie, or steal, it would be nothing compared to what these people were doing to us. 4. Do you think it would be better to give up and die or try to survive? I have to say try and survive, but if i was in their position i wouldn't be s sure. 5. Inhumanity means being inhumanly cruel and brutal. Do you think the world could ever allow this kind of inhumanity to happen again? I think after WW II, we are more prepared for something like this, but it is not impossible. Even after the first WW, we said nothing to this matter would happen again and it did. 6. What kind of punishment do you feel would be suitable for this kind of inhumanity? I don't think that there can possibly be a punishment for something like this. The only thing i can think of is jail or death. 7. Do you think this kind of inhumanity could exist in our day and age? I think that this could happen again and it did.It happened not too long ago and people we would have known were in this position.

Reading Guide

The following questions are thought questions that relate to various themes and ideas in the reading. Use these questions to guide your reading and better understanding of the novel. Be prepared to share your responses in class discussion or in a writing assignment. Please answer all questions in COMPLETE SENTENCES.

__Chapter 1, pages 1-22__ 1. Why does Eliezer pray and why does he cry when he prays? 2. Why don’t people believe Moche’s stores? 3. Site examples of how the Jews gradually lose their freedom. __Chapter 2, pages 23-28__ 4. What does Madam Shachter’s nightmares about a fire foreshadow? 5. Where does the train finally stop? __Chapter 3, pages 29-46__ 6. When questioned by the SS officer, why does Elie lie about his occupation and age? 7. Why does Elie disbelieve what his own eyes show him? 8. Why is Elie now reluctant to pray? __Chapter 4, pages 47-65__ 9. Why is Elie summoned to the dentist? 10. How does Elie react to his father’s beating? 11. Why is the hanging of the “sad eyed angel” said to be one of the most profoundly moving events in the novel? __Chapter 5, pages 66-84__ 12. What is selection?
 * Eliezer prays to mantain faith. He said he doesn't know why he cries and he probably does, because he is prying for peace and wants it so badly.**
 * People don't believe Moche's stories, because hey think he is crazy and are also already in denial.**
 * They aren't allowed to have jobs and they need to wear a star and lose their citizenship.**
 * Madam Shachter's nightmares foreshadow about when they burned the flesh of Jews at the cremetoriam.**
 * The train finally stops in Birkinau.**
 * Ellie lies about his occupation and age, because the inmate told him to. It was probably so he could stay with his family and also so he wouldn't be killed.**
 * It is so terrible and inhumane that he can't even believe it. It is so cruel that he doesn't think it can possibly be real.**
 * Ellie doesn't understand why gd should be letting this happen and is losing faith.**
 * Ellie had a gold tooth and they took all of the gold and silver teeth out of people's mouths.**
 * Ellie is very upset and he is mad that his father just let this man to this to him.**
 * It really gets Ellie upset. He has seen other hangings in the past, but this one really makes him mad.**


 * Selection is where the German SS officers, along with Dr. Mengle come to inspect the prisoners. The SS makes the prisoners run, and do all these different tasks to see if they are "eligible" to live. If they are not "good enough", then they write down your number and then, a couple days later they come back to kill you.**

__Chapter 6, pages 85-97__ 13. Why couldn’t Elie allow himself to die? 14. Why does Juliek play the violin? 15. Compare how the other boys treat their fathers with Eliezer’s treatment of his own father. __Chapter 7-9 pages 98-115__ 16. Why can’t Elizer weep at his father’s death? 17. When he is finally free, Elie wishes to see himself in the mirror. Why can’t he ever forget the look in the eyes of the corpse that gazes back at him?
 * Ellie couldn't allow himself to die, because he knew that he couldn't leave his father and if he died his father wouldn't try to survive anymore.**
 * Juliek plays the violin so he can still be hopeful that he will survive. He brought it with him so they wouldn't take it from him.**
 * Some boys treat their fathers very nicely just like Eliezer and some don't. One boy ran away when he saw his father struggling to keep up with the pack.**
 * Elizer has no more tears and has seen so many worse things than this.**

Literary Analysis Characterization/Author’s Purpose After page: 34
 * When Elizer looked in the mirror it looked like he was part of the living dead. Thats how bad he looked. They treated him so badly at the consentration camps.**

Elie is a Jewish child who is extremely strong in his faith. He often spent nights in the synagogue weeping and praying. He was preparing himself to be initiating into “eternity.” Then came night.

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames, which consumed my faith forever. 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. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.

Answer the following questions in complete sentences.

1. What does “night’ symbolize to Elie? Why do you think he selected it as the title of his memoir? 2. What fires does he speak of that consumed his faith forever? Why do these fires consume his faith? 3. Do you find it difficult to believe that a boy so devout in his faith could lose his faith? Why? 4. Why does he lose his desire to live? 5. Elie spoke these words as an adolescent. Do you think that as an adult his feelings have changed? Why? 6. Why do you suppose Elie wrote this novel? Literary Analysis: Characterization Elie explicitly recounts events that describe his relationship with his father during imprisonment in the camps. He also describes events in the relationships of other fathers and sons in the camps.
 * Night symbolizes the hardship and pain that the Jews went through. I think he selected this as the title of his book, because that is where he had all of his god and bad memories.**
 * The fires that consumed his faith were of the crematorium. These fires consume his faith, because they take away what he believes of gd from good to bad.**
 * I do think that it is possible for a boy like this to lose his faith, because what he saw was so terrible. He doesn't know how gd could let this happen.**
 * Ellie loses his desire to live, because he doesn't think it is worth it. He thinks that it would be better to die then go through what they were going to make him do.**
 * I think that his adult feelings have changed, because now he relizes that anything could happen to anyone at anytime. He is losing hope for good and for his life.**
 * Elie wrote this book so people could see what he went through and so nobody would ever forget what went on at Aushwitz.**

In your book there are many examples of father-son relationships. Give examples, including the page number of a father son relationship and tell what you think about that relationship, tell why you might or might not have acted in a similar way. This does not have to be done on Elie and his father. There are many other examples of father-son relationships as well. An example has been done for you.

Example: Page 39:

Relationship shown: Elie’s father is struck, but Elie does not move to help him. His father whispers that the blow does not hurt. Although Elie does not move, he feels remorse and hatred toward the gypsy. He is angry and unforgiving.

What I think: Elie is a child and probably fears that if he helps his father, he too will be beaten. His father does not blame him and does not want to see him beaten or do something he might regret; thus, he tells Elie that the blow des not hurt.

I would’ve done: This seems to be a relationship where the father is protective of the son who is young and frightened. I would have acted in the same way if I were the father, thinking that I need to protect my child.

1. Page 43-44

Relationship shown: **The man only cares to stay alive in the camps if his family and children are still alive. If they died he would not care to live anymore.**

What I think: **I think that this shows how much he must love his family if the only reason he wants to live is so he can one day be with them.**

I would’ve done: **I would have done the same thing. If the SS was treating me the way they did, I don't see why i would want to live unless i had a good reason to live and that was if I had a family.**

2. Page 49-50

Relationship shown: **Elizer wants to work near his father and they allow that to happen.**

What I think: **I think it is very good that in the time of hardship that they still love each other and want to be close to each other.**

I would’ve done: **I would have done the same thing, because if I was in this situation I would really need the support and the presence of my father there.**

3. Page 55-56

Relationship shown: **Elizer tries to help his father march in step so he doesn't get beaten any more. The inmates laugh at them, but they don't care. They keep trying.**

What I think: **I think this is very nice and sweet of Elizer, because he gets upset when his father gets beat and he wants to help.**

I would’ve done: **I would of done the same thing and tried to help, because i could never see my dad ket blows like that.**

4. Page 90-91

Relationship shown: **It is a bad father son relationship. All the inmates where ordered to run away and a son is running along side his father and when he sees his father start to slow down, he speeds up and loses his father.**

What I think: **I think that this is terrible how somebody could do something like this. When someone is struggling, you should help them out and let them know that someone is there for them and not just leave them all alone to suffer.**

I would’ve done: **I would have stayed back with my dad and encouraged him.**

5. Page 101

Relationship shown: **A father is trying to eat a piece of bread on the cattle car and his son attacks and kills him for it.**

What I think: **I don't understand how someone could kill their own father for a little piece of bread.**

I would’ve done: **I would have tried to protect my father and not even think about killing him.**

6. Page 112

Relationship shown: **Elizer's father dies and he is not even in the bunk.**

What I think: **This is very sad and I think it is even more sad that Elie couldn't cry for him.**

I would’ve done: **I would have been so upset and cried for days and days.**

__Night__ Irony

Read each passage below. Explain what is //ironic// about the meaning of the passage.

1. “but we had been marching for only a few moments when we saw the barbed wire of another camp. An iron door with this inscription on it: ‘Work is liberty!’ “ (page 40) 2. “Some of the prominent members of the community came…to ask him what he thought of the situation. My father did not consider it so grim…’The yellow star? Oh well, what of it? You don’t die of it…’ ” (page 11) 3. “On we went between the electric wires. At each step, a white placard with a death’s head on it stared us in the face. A caption: ‘Warning, Danger of Death.’ ” (page 40) 4. I’ve got more faith in Hitler than anyone else. He’s the only one who’s kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.” (page 51)
 * This is irony, because work never set you free. The SS lied to them.**
 * This is ironic, because you actually do die from the star. Not literally, but if you were Jewish, you were meant to be killed.**
 * This is ironic, because it is not only the fence that is a warning of death. It is the whole entire camp that is a warning of death.**
 * This is ironic, because Hitler says terrible things, but tells the truth, and the SS tell lies about good things, but they are more upset with the SS.**

Inhumanity

//Night// is filled with thoughts and comments that reflect inhumanity of World War II. Explain what each of the following excerpts from the novel mean. 1. “The world? The world is not concerned with us. Today anything is allowed. Anything is possible, even these crematories.” (page 33) 2. “Work makes you free.” (page 40) 3. “we were not afraid. And yet, if a bomb had fallen on the blocks, it alone would have claimed hundreds of victims on the spot. But we were not longer afraid of death; at any rate, not of that death. Every bomb that exploded filled us with joy and gave us new confidence in life.” (page 60) 4. “I witnessed other hangings. I never saw a single one of the victims weep. For a long time those dried up bodies had forgotten the bitter taste of tears.” (page 63)
 * The Nazi's are burning people in the creamatorium and nobody is doing anything about it.**
 * You shouldn't need to work to be free. You should be able to be free for just being human.**
 * The Jews get joy out of horror and war.**
 * When people get hung, all they think of is how awful these people are, and not what is happening to them. (?)**