ROBBY

//**__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!

I do not think this would happen to me. I live in a country and one of it's top priorities is to keep it's citizens safe. I would cry non-stop. I wouldn't know what woujld happen to me. I would be terrified. I would steal to live to the next day. I thik I would want to survive, I would never know what would happen the next day. What if I killed someone or myself and the allies came the next morning, afternoon, or evening. I think it could. I don't think it would happen in the United States, but it hink it will/could happen, of course, not as big as the Holocaust. If I had the decission the German's fate, I would say either jail for life or execution. It won't be as big as the Holocaust, but I think it could happen again. I don't thin kit will ever happen in the United States. 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.
 * 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**

1. Why does Eliezer pray and why does he cry when he prays?** Eliezer doesn't knopw why he cries. Elie just feels the need to. Moche was going crazy and insane. He was telling everyone fake stories that nobody thought or even considered believing. The news came out of nowhere. The Jews had very little food. All the Jews had to eat was soup and stale bread. They had to move place to place. The lost the privilage of a home, freedom of speech, and to pray. 4. What does Madam Shachter’s nightmares about a fire foreshadow?** It foreshadows the burnings of the bodies in the ovens. It finally stopped in Berkaneau,Auschwitz,Poland. 6. When questioned by the SS officer, whyt does Elie lie about his occupation and age?** Dr.Mengele told Elie to lie so he could go to the left with the other strong men able to work. Elie thinks it's all a nightmare. He doesn't believe that this could actually happen. It's too unreal and unhuman like. Elie believes there is nothing to pray for. His mother and sister were taken away from him, people are tortured, and he believes it's all God's fault. 9. Why is Elie summoned to the dentist?** Elie was sent to go get his gold crown removed. Eliezer was terrified.He stood where he was a stayed quiet. It is one of the most emotional. Hangings are very sad to see people die from suffocating and chocking. It's sick. 12. What is selection?** Selection is when the German Nazi's pick who will survive the next day and who will die.
 * __Chapter 1, pages 1-22__
 * 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__
 * 5. Where does the train finally stop?**
 * __Chapter 3, pages 29-46__
 * 7. Why does Elie dibelieve what his own eyesshow him?**
 * 8. Why is Elie now reluctan to pray?**
 * __Chapter 4, pages 47-65__
 * 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__

13. Why couldn’t Elie allow himself to die?** Elie says that he has gone so far already and that it would be a waste. Juliek says the violin is his life. He loves it. He does it to cover up the sadness. Juliek loves the songs of Bethooven. Elie cares about his father and loves him so much. Elie knows of the danger they are facing and he stays calm and sticks with his father through thick and thin. They love each other and they won't leave each other's side until that tragic horizon. THe other boys try to escape from their fathers. The boys think that their fathers are drawing attention and slowing htem down. 16. Why can’t Elizer weep at his father’s death?** He doesn't have any tears to weep with. If you cry, you die. Elie looks like the walking dead. Elie is so thin and so pale he can't believe what his eyes decieve of him. Elie hasn't looked at himseld since the ghetto, which was almost four years ago.
 * __Chapter 6, pages 85-97__
 * 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__
 * 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?**


 * Literary Analysis**

After page: 34 **
 * Characterization/Author’s Purpose

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.

People say that the Holocaust was dark and moody.Elie felt blue because he is losing his family.That is why the book is called night because the Holocaust was a dark time in the 1930s and the 1940s. Elie speaks of the crematorium. He talks about how he always sees the smoke coming from the chimney. It consumes Elie's faith forever because when he thinks of the fire,he will turn to ashes.It would suck him in to death.
 * 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?**

I do not find it difficult.Elie does not believe in God because God let this happen to the Jewish people.I also think Elie lost faith because he was losing his family. Elie thinks he doesn't have anything to live for.Elie lost over half his family and he lost feelings in God because God doesn't answer him anymore.Elie also thinks he should almost "protest" against god because he made this happen to the Jews. I think Eliezer's feelings have not changed, but I think Elie sees it at a different perspective.Elie probably feels lucky he survived the Holocaust, but he wishes he still had his family.I think Elie is in a different perspective because he is not imprisoned anymore. To tell people his story. Elie wanted to inform the readers about how life was and how people were called non-human becasue they were/are different.
 * 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.

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 does 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:** Stein went to Elie and his father. They are cousins. The father also told Elie not to swallow, chew, and gulp his ration down so quickly.


 * What I think:** I think it is cool to meet a long lost relative in such a crowded place.


 * I would’ve done:** I would have stopped to talk. I wouldn't let him leave my side. I would want to know how is life was before coming to the concentration camp. I would like to keep as much family as possible.


 * 2. Page 49-50

Relationship shown:** Elie and his father were put in ranks to five. They would live in the same block. They would also work together, sorting bulbs all day.


 * What I think:** I think this is good. I would be lucky to be with my father all day. Elie and his father work and sleep tomorrow.


 * I would’ve done:** I would've accepted being with my father all day.


 * 3. Page 55-56

Relationship shown:** Elie went to his father to ask him about the golden crown. His father said "We can't do this."


 * What I think:** I think it was a very good idea that Elie went to his father for help.


 * I would’ve done:** I would've done the same thing. The gold crown would be very important to me. It would have been very important for me to tell my father or another family member.


 * 4. Page 90-91

Relationship shown:** Rabbi Eliahu lost his son in the crowd speeding down the road to Gleiwitz. The son didn't really lose him, the son did it on purpose. He didn't want to be with his son any longer. The son thought it would draw attention. So, the son fell to the ground, got trampled, and died.


 * What I think:** I think that was wrong. I would be very happy at that time because I knew I still had family left.


 * I would’ve done:** I would've done the opposite. No matter what happened I would have stayed by my fathers side until death. Even if he was annoying or drawing attention, I still would have loved him and I would love him even past the end.


 * 5. Page 101

Relationship shown:** There was a big fight in the cattle cart. The SS threw bread in the window. An old man was sitting in the corner waiting for some bread. The man finally got some crust and while he was putting it in his mouth, his son fell on him to get the little crust. The son got the crust of bread while he fell and killed his own father.


 * What I think:** I think this is wrong. I would not have done that. I would have loved my dad. I would not over react like that, over a crust of bread, no way!


 * I would’ve done:** I would've let my old father have the peice of bread. I wa younger so I would have had a better chance of living.


 * 6. Page 112

Relationship shown:** Elie's dad wasn't under the bunk when he woke up to the horizon. The father was taken to the crematorium. Elie wanted to cry, but he couldn't.


 * What I think:** I think that is really sad. I would have cried, I would have burst to tears. I would not have run outside. I wouldn't want to draw attention.


 * I would’ve done:** If I knew he was taken to an oven to burn to ashes, I would have burst to tears**.**

__Night__ Irony

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

'Work for Liberty' is a lie. The Nazis told the Jews that because the Nazis wanted the Jews to work for them.
 * 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)**

You woldn't die from the star physically, but you will die because the yellow star is on the Jews clothes, which symbolizes that they are Jewish.
 * 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)**

(page 40)** There should be one big sign. Anybody in the camp would die no matter what.
 * 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.’ ”

Hitler's promise was to kill and wipe out all of the Jews. Hitler's promise wasn't good, but he kept it. Inhumanity
 * 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)**


 * //__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)** The world is not supposed to kill people just because it is fun or because they are different.The world and everyone in it should care about others.Anything is not allowed.

That was a lie. The Nazis were treating the Jews like slaves. This is inhumanity becasue slaves in the 1930s and the 1940s were called non-human. Everybody on this Earth should be equal.
 * 2. “Work makes you free.” (page 40)**

The bombs ment that there were people that cared about the Jews.
 * 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)**

The Nazis hanged people just because they were different from them. It was the Nazi's idea of wiping of the Jews. It's torture.
 * 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)**