Night
Elie Wiesel
DAY 1
Background
• Born in Sighet, 1928
• Close-knit Jewish
community.
• Middle class family,
grocers.
• Religious study
• Germans invaded in
1944.
• He was 15.
Elie Wiesel aged 15 shortly before
deportation
Location: Sighet
Life in Sighet
Rise of Hitler and the Nazis
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Germany was blamed for WWI.
Reparations.
Hit hard by the Great Depression
Germans desperate for someone to provide
stability.
• Hitler and the Nazi party promised economic
prosperity and military dominance.
Vocabulary
• Kabbala – Jewish mystical texts
• Torah – The 1st five books of the Books of Moses
(referred as the Old Testament).
• Hasidic – strict form of Judaism.
• Talmud – authoritative body of Jewish teachings.
• Synagogue – Jewish temple
• Zionism – belief in a Jewish country
• Anti-Semitism – Hatred against Jews
Concentration Camps
DAY 2
Jews in Europe
• 9 million in 1939
• 3 million in 1945
• 1.6 million today
The Holocaust
• The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic,
state-sponsored persecution and murder of
approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime
and its collaborators. During the era of the
Holocaust, German authorities also targeted
other groups because of their perceived “racial
inferiority”: Roma (Gypsies), the disabled, and
some of the Slavic peoples (Poles, Russians, and
others). Other groups were persecuted on
political, ideological, and behavioral grounds,
among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s
Witnesses, and homosexuals.
Concentration camps
• Over 6 million Jews were murdered.
• A network of over 40,000 facilities in Germany
and occupied territories were used.
• The Roma, handicapped, homosexuals and
political dissidents were also targeted.
• Prisoners were “separated” by those who
were able to work, and those immediately
gassed.
Holocaust Museum clip
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_nm.php?ModuleId=100
05143&MediaId=7827
Notes Chapter 2 – gather evidence
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Religious observance
Fire as a symbol
Madame Schacter
Silence of victims
Lack of resistance
Auschwitz
DAY 3
Group Discussion – chapter 2
• Identify each of the steps in the German plan
to get the townspeople from Sighet to
Aushwitz.
• Point out how the cunning of the German plan
and the people’s human need for optimism in
the face of danger led the Jews of Sighet to
the transports to Auschwitz.
Josef Mengele: Angel of Death
• A German doctor and SS
officer.
• “Separated” people on
arrival.
• Experimented on
inmates, obsessed with
twins.
• Sadistic, cruel,
psychopathic,
manipulative.
• Fled to South America.
• Died in 1979
See notes
Clips: America’s Century
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1) 11:32–13
2) 1-4:50; 9:15-end
3) beginning to 7:03; 9:51-end
4) beginning to 6:00; 8:03 to end
Notes for Ch. 3
• Language: use of short sentences to quicken the
pace and add tension.
• What are the things he “never shall forget?”
• How is the image of darkness and night used? Be
specific, provide quotations.
• How does he react to his father being beaten?
• How does he feel about God by the end of the
chapter?
• For you, what is the most horrific event in this
chapter?
CHAPTER 4
Dramatic irony
• Definition: something that is understood by
the audience, but not the characters.
• Example: Rose, in The Titanic, says: “It’s just so
beautiful, I could die.”
Verbal Irony
• Definition: The intentional use of a word in a
way that is different from its meaning.
• Example: As pleasant as surgery.
Quotes, explanations, for:
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The dentist/the gold tooth.
The young French girl.
Idek
The kapos
Elie’s feelings toward his father.
Air raid (significance to prisoners?)
The hanging of the young boy
Journal entry
• In what ways is Elie resisting?
• Try to explain what this means: God is hanging
from those gallows.
• What is your reaction to the book so far?
CHAPTER 5
Terms you should know
• Yom Kippur – day of atonement, fasting
• Kaddish – prayer of respect for the dead.
• Kapo – a prisoner who worked with the Nazis
to supervise other prisoners.
Reading questions
• During Yom Kippur, what do the prisoners
debate?
• Why doesn’t Elie fast?
• What did Elie’s father give to him, and what did
Elie call it?
• Why was Akiba Drummer chosen for selection?
• What happened to the people who remained in
the hospital?
pp. 85-97
CHAPTER 6
Notes – and these questions
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What happens if someone stops running?
Why won’t Eliezer’s father let him sleep?
What agreement do Elie and his father reach?
What truth about his son does Eliezer NOT tell
Rabbi Eliahou?
• How is Eliezer’s father saved during selection?
Reflection question
• Compare and contrast the different ways in
which sons treat their fathers in this chapter.
Use pg#’s and cite direct evidence from the
book.
Literary devices
• Pg. 82: “Death wrapped itself around me…it
stuck to me” is an example of what literary
device?
98-103
CHAPTER 7
Reading Questions
• Why are the prisoners happy to throw bodies
out of the train?
• What do the German workmen do at the train
stops for amusement?
• Who kills an old man for bread? What
happens to the killer?
• The train started with 100 people. How many
are left?
104-112
CHAPTER 8
Reading Questions
• Describe (with pg. #s) what Eliezer does to
keep his father alive.
• Describe (with pg. #s) his mixed emotions
(guilt, pain) as he deals with his father’s death.
113-120
CHAPTER 9
Essay Questions
1. At the end of Night, Wiesel writes that he looked
like a corpse. What parts of Eliezer died during
captivity? What was born in its place?
2. When Night begins, Eliezer is so moved by faith that
he weeps when he prays—but he is only 12 years
old. How does Eliezer's relationship with his faith
and with God change as the book progresses?
When the book ends, he is 16 years old. How would
you describe him?
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. As the story progresses, we
witness scenes in which the Jews have been reduced
to acting—and even treating their fellow prisoners—like rabid animals. During an
air raid over Buna (see p. 59), a starved man risks being shot by crawling out to a
cauldron of soup that stands in the middle of the camp, only to thrust his face into
the boiling liquid once he has arrived there safely. Where else do we see examples
of human beings committing such insane acts? What leads people to such horrific
behavior? Is it fair to say that such beastliness in the death camps is inevitable?
Do Eliezer and his father fall prey to such behavior?
The essay: Paragraph 1
• The hook
• The thesis
• The forecast
The hook
• An opening statement that captures the
attention of the reader and makes him/her
want to read more.
Strategies for the hook
• Surprising fact: Despite the sacrifice of thousands
of soldiers, protestors and activists to ensure that
we have the right to vote, only half of eligible
voters in this country bother to actually vote.
• Wit: Democracy is the worst form of government
ever created – with the exception of every form
of government that came before it.
• Quote: “Democracy must be born anew every
generation, and education is its midwife” (Dewey,
1908).
• Dilemma: Abraham Lincoln, in order to protect a
democracy, sometimes had to suspend it.
The thesis
• Establishes a focus for the essay, a position to
be proven.
Strategies for the thesis
• It is debatable.
• Ex of debatable: The U.S. should spend half of its
budget on military defense.
• Ex of non-debatable: The military is important.
• It is narrow.
• Ex of narrow: Overspending on the military is
harmful because it takes away from spending we
need at home.
• Ex of too broad: Overspending is harmful.
Strategies for the forecast
• Outline for the reader (and yourself) how the
essay will be structured.
• Do not be overly detailed.
• You can revise it at the end to reflect changes
in the essay.
theses
• When you are stripped of your basic human
rights, freedom and innocence, then beast-like
behavior is inevitable.
• Succumbing to animalistic behavior is not
inevitable; Eliezer and his father are examples
of this.
theses
• Those who survive show different levels of
barbaric instincts.
• In the concentration camps any prisoner who
was on the verge of death, and had the will to
live were reduced to the actions of animals.
Theses
• Those who wanted to live had to act
barbarically in some way to do so.
• The prisoners act barbarically and cruelly in
order to survive. Eliezer and his father are the
exception because they rely on their love for
each other to survive.
My hook
• Makes the reader want to read more because
it is either: surprising, witty, contains a
relevant and interesting quote, or poses a
dilemma.
Transitions
• A verbal bridge that connects one part of the
introduction to another.
• Explains the hook.
• Introduces the novel.
My thesis is
• Debatable (it requires proof)
• Narrow (it is clearly defined)
My forecast
• Clearly indicates what is to follow.
• Summarizes the ideas.
• Places them in the order in which they appear in
the essay.
• You can not write this sentence without
identifying the three themes you will develop.
Forecast: Developing the themes
• Assemble the main pieces of evidence that
support your thesis. You should have at least 5.
• Categorize the evidence, into 3 categories.
• Possible categories: By character; by action; by
time, by severity.
• Each category will be a paragraph, and must be
distinct (non-repetitive).
• Develop a sentence that summarizes three
categories.
If you are stuck on the forecast…
• In this essay I will demonstrate that…
Categorizing example
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Red
Chair
Table
Green
Cookie
Yellow
Crackers
Check list
• Do you have: a hook, a transition, a thesis and a
forecast?
• Does your hook get the reader’s attention?
• Do you explain the hook, and introduce the
novel?
• Do you have a clear thesis?
• Do both your thesis and your hook match?
• Does your forecast introduce the 3 main ideas
that will support your thesis?
Body paragraph
• Purpose: To show and explain the supporting
details that proves the thesis.
• Contains 4 elements: topic sentence,
transition, evidence and analysis.
Topic sentences
• -Clearly state the main idea of the paragraph.
• -Connect (return) to idea of thesis.
• -Make a mini-argument in support of the
thesis.
Common mistakes
• -State facts and not an argument: Sure, this
happened, but so what?
-No connection to thesis statement.
Transition
• Used to connect one part to another.
• Necessary, because without it the paragraph is
jumpy and hard to read.
Supporting evidence
• You should have at least 2 pieces of evidence
to support your topic sentence.
• ALWAYS cite your evidence.
• The more specific you are, the harder it will be
to argue against your evidence.
Analysis (warrant)
• Analysis is what you think about the evidence.
• It tells the reader what the evidence means.
• It is a key part of the paper because it shows
that you are actually thinking.
Strong Analysis
• Provides insight and interpretation into
meaning of evidence.
• Shows how offered evidence proves thesis and
topic sentence.
• Does not assume the interpretation is selfevident.
Body paragraph
• Give source evidence for your points. These
could be quotes, statistics, sayings, etc.
Example: One way to end the global hunger
crisis is through micro-loan programs. One
example of this is in Bangalore, India, where
the hunger rate has dropped in direct
correlation to the increase in micro-loan
activity (Smith 2009).
• Make your last sentence count with a
statement that “wraps up” one idea and
transitions to the next idea
and the new topic sentence.
Example: One way to end the global hunger
crisis is through micro-loan programs. One
example of this is in Bangalore, India, where
the hunger rate has dropped in direct
correlation to the increase in micro-loan
activity (Smith 2009)… Therefore, it is
apparent that programs like Micro-Trend are
helping those in hunger to overcome their
circumstances and become self-sufficient,
which increases the overall welfare of the
community at large.
Though some may see this trend as an
isolated case, Bangalore is not the only city
where such results have been documented.
Galileo
EXAMPLES
The Germans push the Jews to their limits. When the prisoners chose
to lie down and rest in the snow, they were putting themselves at the
risk of their own death. Eliezers father tells him, “Don’t let yourself be
overcome by sleep, Eliezer. It’s dangerous to fall asleep in snow. One
falls asleep forever. Come, my son, come…Get up” (Wiesel 88). This
quote says that when the prisoners lay down in the very cold snow,
they will close their eyes, never wake up, and die. Eliezers feelings in
the snow: “…the snow was thick. I let myself slide to the ground. Only
now did I feel the full extent of my weakness. The snow seemed to me
like a very soft, very warm carpet. I fell asleep. I don’t know how
long….When I woke up, a frigid hand was tapping my cheeks. I tried to
open my eyes: it was my father….His eyes were glazed over, his lips
parched, decayed” (Wiesel 88). This quote says that even when you
think you are in a warm, comfortable place, there can be
consequences to that moment.
One of the main themes in the book I found was that
they all had no desire to live. Going through so much
loss and pain I imagine they would lose hope in
themselves and living. A lot of there family members
died right in front of their eyes which scarred them. Its
understandable that they just gave up because they
really had no energy and nothing to live for. Everyone
around them became selfish and bitter. It is one thing
to lose hope in your self but another to lose hope in
god, and I think they all did both.
The fight for survival of an inmate in a concentration camp is a
daily routine especially when confronted by the temptation to
kill. Elie Wiesel has successfully fought off this temptation in
several occasions. "I considered jumping him, strangling him.
But I had neither the courage nor the strength. I was riveted by
my father's agony"(p.109). Elie's father was sick and not being
able to convince the doctors to help him, he became infuriated
and had the desire to kill "strangle" him. But, knowing that
fighting wouldn't solve anything his temptation weakened and
he returned to taking care of his father. "A piece fell into our
wagon. I decided not to move. Anyway, I knew that I would not
be strong enough to fight off dozens of men!"(p.101). Elie
keeping in mind that fighting for the bread would have only
gotten him killed, remained still and watched the others fight to
death for a small ration.
People were stripped of their innocence by having
to witness horrible acts of cruelty. To illustrate what
horrendous events people were forced to see and
live, “A truck drew close and unloaded it’s hold:
small children. Babies! Yes i witnessed this with my
own eyes… children thrown into the flames (32).”
Elizer witnessed a boy kill his own father for a small
amount of bread, possibly just crumbs, that the
father was planning on giving to his son anyways
(101).” When people saw these horrific things
taking place it clouded their natural ability to differ
right from wrong, they would just begin to rely on
the instance to survive no matter what cost.
Newton
EXAMPLES
In the book Night, by Elie Wiesel, Elie addresses
unforgettable memories several times throughout the
book. Such as when he first arrives at the camp, he
sees babies being dumped into a pit of fire. He later
says; “Never shall I forget the small faces of the
children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke
under a silent sky,” (Night, 34). Also, the very last
sentence in the novel; “The look in his eyes as he
gazed at me has never left me,” is referencing an
unforgettable scene and sight for the author. I think
that, by addressing these unforgettable memories,
Elie is trying to show the reader that there are some
memories that are so scaring, that they are
unforgettable
Of the types of people that can be identified in the holocaust, a
common one is those who betrayed others. An example of betrayal
during this novel is when Rabbi Eliahu’s son abandoned him, “Oh
God, master of the universe give me strength to never do what
Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done” (Wiesel 91). Rabbi Eliahu’s son left his
father behind and this is an example of the betrayal that was
common in the holocaust. On the way to the camps madness
consumed many and the victims did not want it to spread so they
silenced the insane, “She received several blows to the head, blows
that could have been lethal” (Wiesel 102). This is an example of
betrayal in that it portrays friends who attack Mrs. Schächter rather
than help her through the tough times that they are all experiencing.
Many peoples’ minds could not handle the change of environment
or treatment, knowing they would most likely not survive the ordeal,
they took what they needed from others to save themselves.
The first reason why the prisoners are reduced to barbaric
behavior is that they had beaten by each other, and the
Germans. An example of these beatings is, “once again, the
young men bound and gagged her. When they actually struck
her, people shouted their approval” (26). This shows how cruel
the prisoners can be to each other when they are in a state of
panic. Another example of the horrors they faced is, “And I
walked on with my father, with the men. I didn’t know that this
was the moment in time and the place where I was leaving my
mother and Tzipora forever” (29). This is a great example of the
emotional beatings they faced, having their families torn apart.
They were not only subjected to these horrible beatings but
were also feed much too little.
Prisoners are treated unimaginably cruel in concentration
camps. The nazis were very cruel and inhumane. “ A truck drew
close by and unloaded its hold: small children.Babies!... children
thrown into the flames”(page 32). They had no remorse, they
killed all those that could not work. They enjoyed the suffering
of the prisoners. “Soon, peices of bread were falling into the
wagon from all sides. … A piece fell into our wagon. I knew that I
would not be strong enough to fight off dozens of violent
men!”(page 101). The naizs found it entertaining to watch the
starving prisoners fight over pieces of bread crust. Since the
nazis did not care about the prioners, they decide to treat them
like animals.
6 paragraphs
• Intro: Hook, Transition, Thesis, Forecast
• Body x3: Topic sentence, evidence, analysis,
evidence, analysis, transition.
• Counterclaim: Topic sentence, counter
example, analysis, counterexample.
• Conclusion: Topic sentence, summary,
analysis.
Counterarguments
• Definition: A counterargument is an argument
opposed to your thesis, or part of your thesis.
• Purpose: To show the reader that you have
considered opposing views.
How to construct a counterargument
• List reasonable reasons why someone might
disagree with your thesis.
• Express yourself objectively.
• Point out the flaws.
Strategies for pointing out the flaws
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Question the assumptions.
Question the facts.
Question the values
Question the relevancy
Starter frames
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Yet,
However,
This interpretation is flawed
But what they fail to acknowledge is
Example
Many people nowadays believe that technology has
improved our quality of life. They feel that with
technology we live happier lives because it makes
our work easier: cars take us places, computers
store our information, machines wash clothes and
dishes, and so on. However, the knowledge
required to use modern technology, especially
computers, does not make life easier. Most people
are now busier than they have ever been before.
Employees are expected to respond to emails
immediately, and to work from home. The stress
that accompanies social networking includes
anxiety, envy, and depression (Johnson 14).
Exercise
• Select a claim.
• Generate 2 reasons against your claim.
• Respond to these arguments.
Counterclaim paragraph
• Start with reasons against claim. (pt. 1)
• Show how reasons against claim (pt. 1) are
wrong. (pt. 2)
Claims
• Students learn less by using computers in the
classrooms.
• Couples should not live together before they
get married.
Night
• What is your thesis?
• What is a reasonable counterclaim? What are
the reasons? (pt. 1)
• What is your response? What is your evidence
to refute (argue against) the counterclaim?
(Pt. 2)
Concluding paragraph
• Restate your thesis/claim,
• Briefly review your evidence,
• Give reader a sense of why this is important.
• Now is not the time to introduce a new
concept.
Example of conclusion paragraph
To conclude, Coco Chanel was, in her own way, a liberator of
women. She released them from the bounds of the corset,
which greatly limited a woman’s physical movement and
served as a restraint upon women in general society. While
women in America were fighting for the vote, they were
doing so in outfits fit for revolutionaries. A dropped waist and
soft fabrics helped women focus less on their own physical
discomfort and more on what they were trying to achieve.
They were granted the opportunity to enjoy the same luxury
as men: the luxury of comfort. Chanel’s refusal to conform
initiated a movement that would see generation after
generation of women using fashion as a way to express
themselves, rather than attempting to fit themselves into an
unrealistic ideal.
[Restate Thesis & Revisit Value of Essay] It is clear that the
only acceptable way of ensuring the safety of airline
passengers is to begin a program to issue Safe Traveler
Cards or national ID cards to United States citizens.
[Review Main Points] These cards would screen out those
who are unlikely to be terrorists and would also eliminate
the delays that currently characterize air travel. Most
important, they would help prevent terrorists from high
jacking American Planes. At the same time, by making
racial profiling unnecessary, these cards would help
protect personal and civil liberties of Americans.
[Importance] Only by instituting a national ID card system
can the U.S. make certain that the terrorists who attacked
the United States did not hijack the liberties that are so
precious to us.