JOSEPH

//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? Elieizer prays because he feels closer to God. Eliezer crys when he prays because something inside himfelt the need to cry.

2. Why don’t people believe Moche’s stories? People don't belive Moishe's stories because people think he is a madman.

3. Site examples of how the Jews gradually lose their freedom. The first way the Jews lost their freedom was when the Jews could not stay out after six o' clock. Another reason was the Jews got rounded up into Gettos.

__Chapter 2, pages 23-28__ 4. What does Madam Shachter’s nightmares about a fire foreshadow? Madam Shacters nigtmare foreshadows The creamatoria in the Jews future.

5. Where does the train finally stop? The train finally stops at the murder camp, Birkenau

__Chapter 3, pages 29-46__ 6. When questioned by the SS officer, why does Elie lie about his occupation and age? Elie changes his occupation and age because an inmate tells Elie to change his occupation and age.

7. Why does Elie disbelieve what his own eyes show him? Elie does not belive what his eyes are showing him because Elie thinks it is just a dream.

8. Why is Elie now reluctant to pray? Elie is reluctant to pray because Elie thinks God is just sitting there and watching.

__Chapter 4, pages 47-65__ 9. Why is Elie summoned to the dentist? Elie is summoned to the dentist because Elie has a gold tooth crown.

10. How does Elie react to his father’s beating? Elie reacts to his fathers beating with anger towards his fater because he thinks his father should not take the beating.

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 angel is one of the most profound moments of the story because the "sad eyed angel" is still alive when the chairs are moved, so that mean he suffers.

__Chapter 5, pages 66-84__ 12. What is selection? Selection is a life or death decision made by someone else.

__Chapter 6, pages 85-97__ 13. Why couldn’t Elie allow himself to die? Elie could not let himself die because his father needed support and if Elie died, then his father would have no one to relie on.

14. Why does Juliek play the violin? Juliek plays the violin because he loves to play Beethoven.

15. Compare how the other boys treat their fathers with Eliezer’s treatment of his own father. Other boys treated their fathers like burdens on their shoulders. __Chapter 7-9 pages 98-115__ 16. Why can’t Elizer weep at his father’s death? Elie cant weep at his fathers death because Elie says he has ran out of tears.

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? Elie cant forget the look in the eyes of the corpse that gazes back at him because he looked like a dead man.

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? Night symbolizes hardships to Elie. I think

2. What fires does he speak of that consumed his faith forever? Why do these fires consume his faith? The fire Elie speaks of is the fire that the Jews are being thrown into. I think the fire consumes his faith because he allows himself to think that God is no interested in the Jews.

3. Do you find it difficult to believe that a boy so devouted in his faith could lose his faith? Why? I think it is not difficult to believe that a boy so devouted in his faith could lose his faith. It is easy to lose faith when you are in such hard times.

4. Why does he lose his desire to live? Elie lose his desire to live because he thinks he will die anyway.

5. Elie spoke these words as an adolescent. Do you think that as an adult his feelings have changed? Why? I don't think his feelings have changed because he will never forget the memories or ways people were treated.

6. Why do you suppose Elie wrote this novel? I think Elie wrote this novel because he might of wanted to tell his life and show what really happened behind the walls of Aushwitz.

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: Stein wanted to know if his family was alright.

What I think: I think this shows loyalty to his wife and children.

I would’ve done: If I was Stein, I would have also asked if they had seen Reizel before being captured.

2. Page 49-50

Relationship shown: Elie wanted to sit next to his father on the assembly line.

What I think: I think this is a time that Elie is growing fonder of his father.

I would’ve done: I would have done the same thing, wanted to sit next to my father.

3. Page 55-56

Relationship shown: Elie had tried to teach his father how to march.

What I think: I think this is a nice thing to do.

I would’ve done: I would have told Franek to, "Back off and stop beating my father!"

4. Page 90-91

Relationship shown: The Rabbis son had left his father in the marching.

What I think: I think the Rabbis son was very selfish.

I would’ve done: If I was the Rabbis son, then I would have stayed with my father and maybe of even carried him.

5. Page 101

Relationship shown: A son killed his own father for a piece of bread.

What I think: I think this was an act of cruelty and selfishness.

I would’ve done: If I was the son, first, I would not of killed my father, and second, if the others tried to attack my father, I would protect my father.

6. Page 112

Relationship shown: Elie's father died.

What I think: I think that Elie had to do what he had to do.

I would’ve done: If I was the father, I would have just of stoped screaming to my son, and just go peacefully.

__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) There is barbed wire and barbed wire dose not represent freedom.

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) Even though the yellow star itself did not kill them, it made them die by showing they are Jews.

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) The wires were a quicker death than staying in the camp.

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) Hitler promised them things, but most were bad.

__Night__ 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) Feeling alone and thinking no one would care.

2. “Work makes you free.” (page 40) Peolpe were FORCED to work, so you were not free.

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) Hoping a bomb will kill you so the fear will be over with, and they learned that someone is trying helping them.

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) People had been tortured for so long they felt less need to cry.