Night Elie Wiesel “Did I write [the book] so as not to go mad or, on the contrary, to go mad in order to understand the nature of madness, the immense, terrifying madness that had erupted in history and in the conscience of mankind?” -Elie Wiesel Why Jews? 8-9 **Hitler had a pathological (abnormal) hatred of Jews: he was an anti semite. (anti semitism = specifically hatred of Jews) **Hitler managed to convince the Germans that the Jews were 'to blame' for all the problems in the country. At that time, the Jews were living very happily in Germany, and were fully assimilated; they married non Jews, worked with non Jews, etc etc etc. https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080110064017AAlX8Yj “Dehumanizing, demonizing, subversive, verminous , unclean, dirty, scheming, dishonest or stereotypical allegations about Jews, plundering their religious symbols and accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group have been the most ancient instruments of persecuting the Jews.” http://shreyvats.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/bihari-the-jews-of-today/ Struggle to maintain faith… • Elie’s faith is solidified in believing that God is everywhere. God created all. Since God creates all things good and beautiful, and God is everywhere, then the world is essentially good. • This is shaken during his time in the Holocaust. • Selfishness, evil, cruelty, and more are revealed in all people including himself. Silence… Religion and race… • God is silent during the torturing and murders. • Victims are silent in their abuse. • Religion and race are the targets of hate and brutality. Inhumanity to man… • “Cruelty breeds cruelty” • First Impressions can be deceiving • Self preservation dictated actions of good and evil • We are all capable of inhumanity (SparkNotes.com). Family sacrifice and destruction… Deception… • Family members sacrificed each other to save themselves • Remaining guilt can be inevitable Symbols • Night: – Silence of God – Suffering – Womb and creation of the earth • Fire: – People burn in hell – Crematoriums – Religious fires (Moses and the burning bush) Elie Wiesel • born in 1928 in Sighet, Transylvania, which is now part of Romania • fifteen years old when he and his family were deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz • mother and younger sister perished • two older sisters survived • Elie and his father were later transported to Buchenwald, where his father died http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/eliewiesel.aspx • Father: Shlomo Wiesel, a grocer • Mother: Sarah (Feig) Wiesel • Marriage: Marion (Rose) Wiesel, (1969present) • Children: Shlomo Elisha, 1972 • Education: Attended the Sorbonne, 19481951 http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/09/us/elie-wiesel-fast-facts/ • I Never Saw Another Butterfly Webquest Works Cited ""A Wound That Will Never Be Healed: An Interview with Elie Wiesel"  Tags: ninth_grade literature  ." Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. <http://sequoyahhsmediacenter.libguides.com/content.php?pid=349782>. "Elie Wiesel Fast Facts." CNN. Cable News Network, 1 Jan. 1970. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/09/us/elie- wiesel-fast-facts/>. "Night Notes on Characters." BookRags. BookRags, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. <http://www.bookrags.com/notes/nit/chr.html>. "Night by Elie Wiesel-characters." flashcards. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. <http://quizlet.com/16843795/night-by-elie-wieselcharacters-flash-cards/>. "Night: Themes, Motifs, & Styles." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/night/themes.html>. Shmoop Editorial Team. "Night Themes." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. <http://www.shmoop.com/night/themes.html>. "The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity." The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. <http://www.eliewieselfoundation.org/eliewiesel.aspx>. "Welcome to the Online Archive of the Old PublicEye.Org Website." PublicEye.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. <http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v08n3/holodeni.html>. MLA formatting by BibMe.org.
