Name: ______________________________________ Date: ____________________________
NIGHT
by elie wiesel
I swore never to be silent
whenever and wherever human
beings endure suffering and
humiliation. We must always take
sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor,
never the victim. Silence encourages
the tormentor, never the tormented.
-- Elie Wiesel
“A slim volume of terrifying power.”
-- The New York Times
pre-reading...
these are things that i already know about the holocaust:
when i think of the word ‘holocaust,’
this is what i see in my head:
chapter one...
DIRECTIONS: I will be checking to see that you’re able to comprehend the assigned readings in much the
same way as we’ve done already, so this is nothing new to you. In some cases, I will provide quotes that you
are to explain and provide a response to, and in others I will expect for you to be able to provide your own.
Rather than working in groups like we did previously, we will work our way through much of this piece individually. In addition, I have included vocabulary words to the right that you should be ready to demonstrate
an understanding of. I am looking for you to create a “definition” based upon context rather than simply a
dictionary definition. You should be prepared to be called on every single day that a reading is due.
1. “He had mastered the art of rendering himself insignificant, invisible.” (p. 3)
vocab...
2. Explain why Eliezer’s father is so against him studying the Kabbalah.
.
1. perilous
2. indulgently
3. “A calm, reassuring wind blew through our homes.” (p. 6)
4. Explain why the people were not afraid of the Germans after they had
entered their town.
3. emigrate
4. laden
5. unheeding
5. “The yellow star? So what? It’s not lethal...” (p. 11)
6. firmament
7. premonition
6. The Jews (as we’ve seen them so far) are very optimistic. Provide at least one
quote or passage that demonstrates this.
vocab...
8. haggard
9. rescinded
7. “The ghetto was ruled by neither German nor Jew; it was ruled by
delusion.” (p. 12)
10. conflagration
8. “They must have envied me.” (p. 17)
11. oppressors
12. refuge
9. “On the table, a half-finished bowl of soup.” (p. )
13. prolonged
10. Eliezer and his family were provided several different opportunities (or
warnings) to leave. Explain why you think that they didn’t heed any of
these warnings or opportunities.
chapter two...
1. “Tomorrow could be worse yet.” (p. 23)
vocab...
1. constraint
2. Explain what happened with Madame Schachter. (Provide a thorough
response - from beginning of this chapter to the end).
2. pious
3. barometer
3. “Nobody had ever heard that name.” (p. 27) ( What does this tell us about
these people?)
4. “Strange looking creatures, dressed in striped jackets and black pants,
jumped into the wagon. Holding flashlights and sticks, they began to
strike at us left and right...” (p. 28)
chapter three...
1. “Eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion. Eight simple,
short words.” (p. 29)
vocab...
1. procession
2. invectives
2. “True. We didn’t know. Nobody had told us. He couldn’t believe his ears.
His tone became even harsher...” (p. 30)
3. blunted
4. lucidity
3. “A weight lifted from my heart.” (p. 32) (think bigger here - what is this
comment showing us?)
5. reverie
6. compulsory
4. “No. All this could not be real. A nightmare perhaps...” (p. 32)
7. congealing
5. What was different about hearing the Kaddish being recited? (p. 33)
6. “What was there to thank Him for?” (p. 33)
7. “Do you remember Mrs. Schachter, in the train?” (p. 34)
vocab...
8. harangued
8. What was the conundrum (yes, I know, you’re impressed with me getting
conundrum into this...) with volunteering or not volunteering? (p. 35)
9. abstraction
10. ascertain
9. “My soul had been invaded - and devoured- by a black flame.” (p. 37)
10. “I thanked God, in an improvised prayer, for having created mud in His
infinite and wonderful universe.” (p. 38)
11. “Work or crematorium -- the choice is yours.” (p. 39)
12. “Had I changed that much? So fast?” (p. 39)
13. “Those were the first human words.” (p. 41)
vocab...
11. compulsory
14. “‘Yes, my mother did hear from them. Reizel is fine. So are the children...’”
(p. 44)
15. “‘Me, I’m not hungry,’ he said.” (p. 44)
16. “We never saw him again. He had been given the news. The real news.”
(p. 45)
17. “How we would have liked to believe that. We pretended, for what if one of
us still did believe?” (p. 46)
12. veritable
chapter four...
1. “In exchange for nothing, that time.” (p. 48)
vocab...
1. veritable
2. “I was nothing but a body. Perhaps even less: a famished stomach. The
stomach alone was measuring time.” (p. 52) (In addition, explain
what happened with the dentist before this)
2. accord
3. imprudent
3. “I knew she wanted to talk to me but that she was paralyzed with fear.”
(p. 53) (In addition, explain the context of the story and what Eliezer
found out later about this girl).
4. “That was what life in a concentration camp had made of me...” (p. 54)
5. “Unfortunately, Franek knew how to handle this; he knew my weak spot.”
(p. 55)
vocab...
4. meddle
5. untenable
6. “I was thinking of my father. He would be suffering more than I.”
(p. 58)
6. cleft
7. loathed
7. “Every bomb that exploded filled us with joy, gave us renewed confidence.”
(p. 60)
8. “I remember that on that evening, the soup tasted better than ever...”
(p. 63)
9. “That night, the soup tasted of corpses.” (p. 65)
CHAPTER FIVE...
1. “I was the accuser, God the accused.” (p. 68)
vocab...
1. afflicted
2. “Never before had we understood each other so clearly.” (p. 69)
2. prostrated
3. lamentation
3. “Deep inside me, I felt a great void.” (p. 69)
4. coutenance
4. “Those whose numbers had been noted were standing apart, abandoned
by the whole world. Some were silently weeping.” (p. 72)
5. atonement
6. interminable
5. “Whenever I happened to dream of a better world, I imagined a universe
without a bell.” (73)
7. wallow
6. “Dr. Mengele had not forgotten.” (p. 74)
vocab...
8. feeble
7. “My inheritance...” (p. 75)
9. crucible
10. din
8. “And three days after he left, we forgot to say Kaddish.” (p. 77)
11. derision
12. summarily
9. “It was like an injection of morphine.” (p. 80)
13. knell
10. “He alone has kept his promises, all his promises to the Jewish people.”
(p. 81)
11. “‘Let them know that here lived men and not pigs.’” (p. 84)
CHAPTER six...
1. “I had no right to let myself die.” (p. 87)
vocab...
1. entities
2. “Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what
Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done.” (p. 91)
2. plaintive
3. poignant
3. “He was playing his life.” (p. 95)
4. “The SS men who were watching were greatly amused by the spectacle.”
(p. 92)
4. semblance
CHAPTER SEVEN...
1. The opening paragraph of Chapter 7 is very choppy. Why do you think
Wiesel did this? Do you think it’s effective? Why or why not?
vocab...
1. livid
2. “They had undoubtedly never seen a train with this kind of cargo.” (p. 101)
2. apathy
3. inert
3. “I was sixteen” (p. 102)
4. lament
4. For the first time in the book, Wiesel’s father’s name is used. Why do you
think it wasn’t used before and why do you think he suddenly use it
now?
5. “‘Why don’t they just shoot us now?’” (p. 103)
CHAPTER eight...
vocab...
1. Prior to starting this chapter, think back to the first time Eliezer was forced 1. beseeching
onto a cattle car. How many people were put on the cars at the begin
ning? How many were on the last trip by cattle car? How many survived
this trip?
2. plaintive
2. “Very close to us stood the tall chimney of the crematorium’s furnace. It no
longer impressed us. It barely drew our attention.” (p. 104)
3. “Instantly, I felt ashamed, ashamed of myself forever.” (p. 106)
4. “Water was the worst poison for him, but what else could I do for him?”
(p. 110)
5. “I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of
tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my
feeble conscience, I might have found somthing like: Free at last!”
(p. 106)
CHAPTER nine...
1. Explain what led up to Buchenwald being liberated by the Americans.
2. “From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me.” (p. 115)