Night Themes—Pre-reading Essay
Assignment: Write an essay exploring one of the four themes listed.
Paragraph one: A hook, the theme and what you think it means, and why it
interests you.
Paragraphs two, three four: Answer the questions below the themes (extra credit
if you ask someone older than you the same questions and include his/her ideas
as well or if you include research on the questions—cite and attach sources). Try
to make these paragraphs flow together by creating transitional sentences to
connect them. You can rearrange their order if you’d like. Min. 5 sent. each.
Paragraph five: Explain how you think this theme connects or applies to the
Holocaust or Night. Feel free to make predictions as well.
-Typed, double-spaced, name, class, and period, theme as title
-Graded on Organization (format directions and transitions), Content (quality of ideas
-and explanation of thought), Mechanics (especially run-ons!) 50 points
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1)The struggle to maintain faith in God
Tragic events can test people’s faith in God.
Why might tragic events cause people to lose their faith in God or a greater
power? Provide an example—real or hypothetical.
Why might tragic events cause people’s belief or faith in God to increase?
Provide an example—real or hypothetical.
Answer this age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
2)Self-Preservation versus Family Commitment
In tough situations people sometimes have to choose whether to stay
committed to helping and working with their loved ones or going it
alone—every man for himself.
It is believed that humans are naturally programmed to protect themselves before
helping or worrying about others. Do you think this is true when it comes to
one’s family? Explain.
Which do you think is more important: the wholeness of the family unit or the
survival of its individual members?
Can you think of an example from movies, books, television, real life when a
person had to choose whether to save himself or help a family member. How
does this type of decision affect a person? Describe.
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3)Emotional “death” or Desensitization
Tragic events can cause us to “die inside” —
lose our will to live or become numb and indifferent.
Why do tragic events do this (see above) to us?
Can you think of an example from movies, books, history, current events, or your
own personal experience in which a person has lost his will to live due to a
tragedy. Describe.
To what types of tragedies and issues is our current society is becoming
desensitized?
4. Showing kindness and dignity (self-respect) in the face of cruelty
Being treated cruelly often causes people to become cruel. It is a rare
person who can keep his self-respect and kindness despite being treated
horribly.
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Why might being treated cruelly cause someone to become cruel? In what
modern-day situations do we see this behavior?
Have you ever met a “rare person” described above? Describe him or her.
In today’s world, do you think many people would risk their lives to help a
stranger? Explain?