JEREMY+T.

//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 think it could happen with current strength from the countries who won't lose sight in what's right. 2. What would be your first reaction to this horrifying experience? I was shocked that anthing like this could have ever happened. 3. What means might you use to deal with what is happening (example: would you lie, cheat, steal)? I would lie about being a Jew and keep on the run. 4. Do you think it would be better to give up and die or try to survive? I would try my best to survive, driven by hope. 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 where there is anger and tension, there is the will to kill people, but it would be stopped in the early stages. 6. What kind of punishment do you feel would be suitable for this kind of inhumanity? I would put everyone who was more than a soldier in jail for life and make the country pay billions of dollars. 7. Do you think this kind of inhumanity could exist in our day and age? People with the right idea would stop it in the early stages.

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? Elie prays because he wants to connect with Kaballah and be faithful. He cries because he feels the need to cry for his Gods. 2. Why don’t people believe Moche’s stores? They don't believe Moische because they want to deny the horror of the reality. 3. Site examples of how the Jews gradually lose their freedom. First the Jews were not allowed to go to synegauge. Then they were put in the Ghettos and kept in an area. Next they must get into the cattle cars. __Chapter 2, pages 23-28__ 4. What does Madam Shachter’s nightmares about a fire foreshadow? She is almost like a Prophet who can see the Jews ordeal in her head. 5. Where did the train finally stop? The train 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 would have been to young to go into the labor camps so they would have killed him. 7. Why does Elie disbelieve what his own eyes show him? He does not believe ? (Need to look at book) 8. Why is Elie now reluctant to pray? Elie is reluctant to pray because the God he worships is making the Jews suffer. __Chapter 4, pages 47-65__ 9. Why is Elie summoned to the dentist? HE is summoned to get his gold tooth pulled out. 10. How does Elie react to his father’s beating? He stands there and does not do anything and he stands there. 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 pipel was moving because it goes to show how cruel the Nazis were, to hang a child. __Chapter 5, pages 66-84__ 12. What is selection? Selection is when Dr. Mengele or some other Nazi doctor, looks at all the prisoners from head to toe and decides wether to kill them or let them keep working.

__Chapter 6, pages 85-97__ 13. Why couldn’t Elie allow himself to die? He couldn't allow himself to die because if he died so would his father. 14. Why does Juliek play the violin? Juliek plays the violin because he is in the "Jewish orchestra" and he wants to. 15. Compare how the other boys treat their fathers with Eliezer’s treatment of his own father. The older boys don't care for their fathers and will even beat them to survive, but Elie wants to survive with his father. __Chapter 7-9 pages 98-115__ 16. Why can’t Elizer weep at his father’s death? Elie can't weep because his tears are all gone and he said there was no reason 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? He look at himself and saw all that he that he had been through, and it represented him and all the Jewish people.

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? For Elie night symbolizes the first night where his Faith was destroyed. 2. What fires does he speak of that consumed his faith forever? Why do these fires consume his faith? He spoke of the fires that consumed his people and those people symbolized his Faith 3. Do you find it difficult to believe that a boy so devout in his faith could lose his faith? Why? He thought that God could fix everything, but when all of his people were being killed he blamed his God for not fixing it. 4. Why does he lose his desire to live? At that point Elie realized his ordeal and that he was better of dead. 5. Elie spoke these words as an adolescent. Do you think that as an adult his feelings have changed? Why? I think today in his situation he would be more reasonable, but he had a right to think of all ofthose horrible things. 6. Why do you suppose Elie wrote this novel? Elie wanted to share his horrible experiences with the world so the holocaust won't be forgotten.

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: A distant relative wept with joy and was kept going by the news from Elie of his love ones bieng unharmed What I think: He should be motivated by his loved ones being alive still. I would’ve done: I would have rejoiced and wouldn't stop at anything to keep goingto see my loved ones again. 2. Page 49-50

Relationship shown: Elie begged the foreman to be in the same block as his father. What I think: Elie was smart to stick with his beloved father to help each other to survive the ordeal. I would’ve done: I would stick with my father and stop at nothing to survive with him. 3. Page 55-56

Relationship shown: Elie wanted to consult with father before giving the gold crown to Franek, and Elie's dad said they would get back at Franek. Elie tried to teach his father to walk in place but he couldn't. Franek continued beating the father for not marching correctly until they gave him the crown. What I think: Elie wanted to stay with his father even if it meant giving up his gold crown. I would’ve done: I would help my father at any cost to stay alive even if it made me the laughing stock. 4. Page 90-91

Relationship shown:

What I think:

I would’ve done:

5. Page 101

Relationship shown:

What I think:

I would’ve done:

6. Page 112

Relationship shown:

What I think:

I would’ve done:

__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) This is ironic because work was in no way the liberty of anything for the Jews and most people were worked to death. 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 if you wore the yellow star, you were identified as a Jew and therefor killed. 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) This is ironic because everywhere in the camp was filled with death, and it was the whole point of having 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) This is ironic because Hitler promised to exterminate all Jews and they are saying that nobody could keep the promise to save the Jews, but Hitler was doing what he said he would do to the Jews. 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) The Jews think the world doesn't care about them, and so much they've gone through they anything is possible. 2. “Work makes you free.” (page 40) Work means your not dead, but the Nazis were terrible to say this because the work would end up killing you. 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 Jews were so starved and deprived of basic things that weren;t afraid of death and they just wanted revenge on the Nazis. 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 Jews have gone through so many cryable things that they forget how to cry.