9(1) English
Night Essay
Write an essay on one of the listed topics. The essay is worth 100 points and should be about
two pages long (12 TNR double-spaced). Your grade will be based on the following four
components:
Text detail: well-chosen, appropriate, accurate, specific details and quotes from Night
Insight: your own analysis and thinking that is clear, deep, fully explained
Organization: "five paragraph" structure, use of transitions, logical arrangement of ideas
Style and mechanics: clear sentences, embedded and cited quotes, no mechanical errors
1. Look back at your pre-reading essay: your thoughts and opinions about the theme and its
applicability to Night. Now that you have read Night, how has your knowledge or opinion of
that theme changed or deepened? Explain what you have learned. Be sure to mention
specific events and people from Night in your essay.
2. Most people who were sent to the Nazi death camps did not make it out alive. How is Elie
able to survive? Analyze his traits and characteristics that help him make it through the
experience.
3. Dehumanization is the process by which the Nazis reduced the Jews to little more than
"things" undeserving of dignity and respect. Discuss how dehumanization occurred in Night
(you can include events that occurred that dehumanized Elie, his father, or his fellow Jews)
and how this helped Hitler achieve his ends.
4. Emotional death can manifest itself in different ways. Examine three characters who
experience emotional death and compare/contrast why they experience it and how it
manifests itself in that individual. (For instance, some people become numb, others angry,
violent, selfish, hopeless, irrational). Does the emotional death help or hurt that individual’s
ability to survive?
5. An act of kindness or a display of human dignity often gave Elie hope during his dark
experience. Examine three such acts or displays, analyzing their effects on Elie. What do
these displays show about human nature?
6. Trace Elie's relationship/faith in God through the course of the book. How does his faith
and feelings about God change and why? Explain how the changes in his faith affect his
ability to survive.
7. Throughout Night, we witness formerly moral men committing deeds that seem vicious and
cruel. Some of these cruelties are apparent in the ways prisoners treat each other. Examine
these cruelties (discussing who is involved and what happens to these characters); and
explain (make an argument) how these men could possibly act this way towards others. As
you write, craft an argument about what these instances reveal about human nature.
8. Compare the narrator’s relationship with his father to other father/son relationships in the
book. How do the relationships develop? What are the positive and negative aspects of
these relationships? What role do the father/son relationships play in the characters’
chances of survival (physical and/or emotional)?
9. Create your own creative and appropriate title for the memoir. The title should be unique
and have symbolic significance. Explain its meaning and justify its suitability.
Extension Options—for those looking for a challenge or desire to further investigate
a topic of interest related to Night. If you choose one of these topics, you may have
one extra week to complete the paper.
10. Research Maslow's Hierarchy of Need. Explain Maslow's theory and apply it to people and
events in Night, using it to explain various behaviors exhibited in the memoir. Be sure to
include a citation of your source at the end of your paper.
11. Watch a movie about the Holocaust (Schindler’s List, The Pianist, Life is Beautiful). Write an
essay in which you compare or contrast one specific aspect of the movie and Night. Do not
focus on plot, but on a shared theme or character development. Warning: These movies can
be graphic and disturbing. Make sure your parents approve of your viewing them. I
encourage you to watch the movie with classmates, but each of you should complete the
assignment separately. Take notes as you watch the film and turn in those notes with your
essay.
12. Proposal? Talk to me and we will formulate a plan. Keep in mind that you must be able
to someone connect the topic to Night.
Due date: _____________________________