ZACH

//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?

2. What would be your first reaction to this horrifying experience?

3. What means might you use to deal with what is happening (example: would you lie, cheat, steal)?

4. Do you think it would be better to give up and die or try to survive?

5. Inhumanity means being inhumanly cruel and brutal. Do you think the world could ever allow this kind of inhumanity to happen again?

6. What kind of punishment do you feel would be suitable for this kind of inhumanity?

7. Do you think this kind of inhumanity could exist in our day and age?

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? Elizer cries when he preys for reasons he is not aware of himself and he preys for reasons he is not even aware of either.

2. Why don’t people believe Moche’s stores? People don’t believe Moche’s stories because they think he’s crazy and that the war is ending.

3. Site examples of how the Jews gradually lose their freedom. An example of how the Jews lost their freedom would be when they were forced to wear yellow stars,nd put in the ghettos, and than thrown into horrid camps. __Chapter 2, pages 23-28__ 4. What does Madam Shachter’s nightmares about a fire foreshadow? Madam Shachter’s nightmares of fire foreshadows the burning of flesh. 5. Where does the train finally stop? The train finally stops at Auschwitz. __Chapter 3, pages 29-46__ 6. When questioned by the SS officer, why does Elie lie about his occupation and age? Elie lies about his age to SS officer so he can go with his dad and not get separated also because he was warned that he should lie about his age so he would die. 7. Why does Elie disbelieve what his own eyes show him? I am not sure what you mean. What did he see? when did this happen?

8. Why is Elie now reluctant to pray? Elie is reluctant to pray because he feels god has betrayed him and he has has lost his faith. __Chapter 4, pages 47-65__ 9. Why is Elie summoned to the dentist? Elie was summoned to the dentist for his gold teeth or other valuables put in his mouth. 10. How does Elie react to his father’s beating? Elie reacts to his fathers beating with anger toward his father for not standing up for himself 11. Why is the hanging of the “sad eyed angel” said to be one of the most profoundly moving events in the novel? The hanging of the sad eyed angle is such a profound event because the SS officers hung a small boy and let him slowly die. __Chapter 5, pages 66-84__ 12. What is selection? Selection is when Jews are either decided healthy enough to be of any help or if they are to weak and are sent off to die.

__Chapter 6, pages 85-97__ 13. Why couldn’t Elie allow himself to die? Elie did not allow himself to die because he knew he was responsible for his father. 14. Why does Juliek play the violin? Juliek played the violin to reflect on his life and die. 15. Compare how the other boys treat their fathers with Eliezer’s treatment of his own father. Eliezer treats his father alot better than other sons who let thier fathers die for food. __Chapter 7-9 pages 98-115__ 16. Why can’t Elizer weep at his father’s death? Elixer can't weep at his fathers death becasue he has no more tears to cry. 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?

When Elie looks at himself in the mirror he will never forget what he saw because he almost looked half dead and alive and it was really disturbing.

Literary Analysis Characterization/Author’s Purpose After page: 34

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? To Ellie night symbolizes death, horror, and bloodshed and I can bet that he used it as his title because that’s what the book is about 2. What fires does he speak of that consumed his faith forever? Why do these fires consume his faith? The fires that consume his faith are disbelief anger and hopelessness and these consume his faith because oh how he feels god treated him.

3. Do you find it difficult to believe that a boy so devout in his faith could lose his faith? Why? I do find it difficult to believe that a boy like Ellie could lose his faith, because a week before he prayed to god and was very religious 4. Why does he lose his desire to live? Ellie loses his desire to live because he knows he’s going to die and he feels he has lost everything he ever cared for.

5. Elie spoke these words as an adolescent. Do you think that as an adult his feelings have changed? Why? 1. I do not think Ellie as an adult has changed his feeling because god still sent him to the camp and killed his family.

6. Why do you suppose Elie wrote this novel?

//Ellie wrote this novel to inform us of how horid the camps were and how futile the people in the camps were.

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.

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:

What I think:

I would’ve done:

2. Page 49-50

Relationship shown: The Foreman assigned Elie to an easy corner but Ellie refuses and asks to be with his father. What I think:Ellie loves his Father and feels he should take care and spend time with him.

I would’ve done: I would of done the same thing because I too would never want to leave my Fathers side.

3. Page 55-56

Relationship shown:Elie won't give up his gold crown but his father will be tormented with marching (witch marching which he can't do). So Elie tries to help his father but eventualy he has to give in.

What I think:Elie knows he has to keep his crown and thinks that maybe if he can teach his father to march he can keep it but eventualy his Father just can't do it.

I would’ve done: i would of just guven in so my father would not have to go through that horrid experience.

4. Page 90-91

Relationship shown: the Rabbi believes he and his son accidentally got separated when in reality his son abandon him.

What I think:I think times are tuff and the Rabbis son was just to run down too depressed and left his father for his own greed.

I would’ve done:I can't say what I would of done I would really have to be in the situation because what his son did was totally just for survival and what am I too say I would of done differently If I am not in that situation.

5. Page 101

Relationship shown:A Father has a piece of bread and he is killed by his own son just for a micro piece of bread. Of course the son is than also killed making everything that he had done even more worthless.

What I think: I think at this point the human brian is just total instinct and when food comes a person is not going to have any thoughts he's just going to focus on staying alive.

I would’ve done: I probaly would of just asked for a piece than agian I can't say because i am not in that situation.

6. Page 112

Relationship shown:Elie's father is near death and now Elie knows it's time for his Father to go so he goes to sleep.

What I think: Elie knew the outcome and just could not stand to see his father in so much pain anymore and just leaves.

I would’ve done: I would of done the same thing because I know no one should live in that much pain.

__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) This ironic because all of the problems all of the death started with the yellow stars that Jews had to wear.

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.’ ” This ironic because they put up a sign on an electirc fence that warns of death when in reality the death camps them selves are dangerous. (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 ironic because the only person who kept his promises to the Jews is Hittler and his promises were death and labor.

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) This excerpt means that there is no savior and that this is the end of the road for this man. Also that even the most unjust of things like the crematoria are plausible and about to kill this man. 2. “Work makes you free.” (page 40) This means that if you keep healthy or appear healthy and work in these camps that you rise your slim chances of living. 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)This dipicts the fact that more than ever these prisoners wanted to hear the allies wanted to be free and even if they got killed by an ally bomb it was a better death than being burned by the SS.

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)This excerpt is the most inhumane because people had to watch their fellow friends and family die a horrible death and that is what is explained in this excerpt.