Elie Wiesel
Study Guide Notes
S
Night: Genre
S Genre
(type or style of writing)
S World War II and Holocaust
Autobiography
Night Study Guide Notes
S The original title Elie Wiesel gave the novel was And the
World Has Remained Silent.
S He wrote this book after 10 years of silence.
S By the end of the Holocaust, over 6 million Jews had been
killed.
Night: Background
S Wiesel first wrote a 900-page text in Yiddish titled Un di Velt Hot
Geshvign (And the World Remained Silent). The work later evolved
into the much-shorter French publication La Nuit, which was then
translated into English as Night.
Night : Tone
S Tone
S Eliezer’s perspective is limited to his own experience, and the
tone of Night is therefore intensely personal, subjective, and
intimate. Night is not meant to be an all-encompassing
discourse on the experience of the Holocaust; instead, it
depicts the extraordinarily personal and painful experiences of
a single victim.
Night: Setting
S setting (time) · 1941–1945, during World War II
S settings (place) ·
Eliezer’s story begins in
S
Sighet, Transylvania (now part of Romania; during Wiesel’s childhood, part of Hungary)
The book then follows his journey through several concentration camps in Europe:
S Auschwitz/Birkenau (in a part of modern-day Poland that had been annexed by Germany in 1939)
S
Buna (a camp that was part of the Auschwitz complex)
S
Gleiwitz (also in Poland but annexed by Germany)
S
Buchenwald (Germany)
Night : Themes
S Themes
S Eliezer's Struggle to Maintain Faith in a Benevolent God
S Silence
S Inhumanity Toward Other Humans
S The Importance of Father-Son Bonds
Night Study Guide Notes
S There are five motifs to look for while reading Night:
motifs (a recurring subject, theme, or idea)
S Night – pay attention to what happens at night and what that might
symbolize. Remember what we learned when we talked about
archetypes and what night might symbolize.
S Bearing Witness – Pay attention to which characters are witnesses
and to what they bear witness.
Night Study Guide Notes
S Motifs (continued):
S Father-son Relationships – Pay attention to how Elie and his
father’s relationship develops; in addition, notice other fatherson relationships in the book.
S Loss of Faith – Notice how Elie’s faith in God changes as the
book progresses. Write on your study guides where these
changes occur.
Night Study Guide Notes
S Motifs (continued):
S Voice vs. Silence – Who has a voice and who chooses to
remain silent? Why might Elie Wiesel title his novel what he
did originally (And the World Has Remained Silent), and why did
he no longer remain silent?
S Click here to listen to Elie Wiesel's "A God who Remembers"
Night : Symbols
S Symbols
S Night
S
S
Fire appears throughout Night as a symbol of the Nazis' cruel power.
Fire
S
Night always occurs when suffering is worst, and its presence
reflects Eliezer's belief that he lives in a world without God.
Night Study Guide Notes
S In Poland, 90% of the approximately 3,000,000 Jews were
murdered in the Holocaust.
S As you read, look for times that Wiesel mentions the people in
surrounding towns.
S There are several groups who contributed to the Holocaust,
persecutors and by-standers included.
S Be prepared to discuss: Why are by-standers just as important as the
persecutors?