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Night Questions

Night Questions. Chapter 1. 1. Describe Moshe' the Beadle. 2. Name the other children in Elie Wiesel's family below. Also put down how old each is at the beginning of the book.

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Night Questions

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  1. Night Questions

  2. Chapter 1 • 1. Describe Moshe' the Beadle. • 2. Name the other children in Elie Wiesel's family below. Also put down how old each is at the beginning of the book. • 3. What do the townspeople think happens to Moshe'? How soon does the town stop worrying about him and the others? • 4. Why do you think that people refused to believe him? • 5. If you were Moshe', would you have done as he did, telling others of what you saw? Why/why not? • 6. What events gave the people of Sighet less reason to believe Moshe'? • 7. Why were the synagogues closed during Passover? • 8. Describe what the Germans did in the "5 Steps Toward Death" described by Wiesel. • Step 1: 3 Days of House Detention • Step 2: Yellow Star • Step 3: Ghetto • Step 4: Deportation • Step 5: Expulsion

  3. Chapter 1 • 9. Why were the people in Sighet reacting as they did to being placed in the ghetto? Consider this quote: • We should no longer have before our eyes those hostile faces, those hate-laden stares. Our fear and anguish were at an end. We were living among Jews, among brothers.... • 10. How do we perceive the word "germ?" Does it have a positive or negative connotation? Why then does Wiesel refer to a "germ of hope" remaining in the hearts of his fellow citizens? • 11. Why was the family's occupation of Wiesel's uncle's house particularly haunting? • 12. The Nazis and their collaborators were very meticulous in their planning. If this is true, then why were the Jews forced to rush to do some things under penalty of beatings, then wait without knowing how long they would remain in one spot? • 13. How many people were packed in each cattle car? Why was it effective for the Nazi collaborators to make someone "in charge" in each car?

  4. Chapter 1 Quotations/Commentary (AV-1 sentence of CM) • “He was a past master in the art of making himself insignificant, of seeming invisible” (13). • “Why do you pray” (14)? • “The deportees were soon forgotten” (16). • “I’m too old, my son” (18). • “…yet the Jews of Sighet continued to smile” (19). • “You don’t die of it [the yellow star]” (20). • “Night fell” (21) • “Naturally, we refused to be separated” (30).

  5. Chapter 2 Answer Commentary “Tomorrow might be worse” (32). “The separation had completely broken her” (33). “It is a furnace” (34). “Auschwitz” (35). • *As you read, keep track of how long they were kept in the cattle cars. • 1. At the beginning of the chapter, how does nature reflect what is happening to the Jews? • 2. A devout Jewish community such as Wiesel's was characterized by strict adherence to a very conservative moral code. If that is true, then why do we find that, "the young people gave way openly to instinct..."? • 3. What happens to Madame Schachter at the hands of her own people? Why? • 4. How long, in terms of days, were they kept in the cattle cars? • 5. What was the significance of the flames?

  6. Chapter 3 Questions+CM Answer Commentary “My hand shifted…left alone” (39). “You must never lose faith, even when the sword hangs over your head. That’s the teaching of our sages” (40). “For the first time…what had I to thank Him for” (42)? “Never…as God himself. Never”(43). “Those absent…. Hope of finding it” (45) “I did not move” (48). “Work is liberty” (49). “I had ceased to pray” (53). • 1. Why did the other prisoner tell Elie and his father to lie about their true ages? • 2. Why didn't the Jews revolt when the strong men thought about it? After all, they did have knives, and it is doubtful that the Nazis could have killed them all at the same time. • 3. What happened to the babies that were in the lorry when it pulled up to the pit of fire? (It does not tell you exactly, you have to infer the answer from what is said in the book.) • 4. Why does Elie's father ask him of Madame Schachter? • 5. Right after the break in this chapter, Wiesel begins to explain the meaning of the title of the book. Why is it significant that Wiesel's faith is murdered before he is? Consider the nature of the community from which he came. • 6. Why does Wiesel say that nakedness "was the true equality"? • 7. Why were the prisoners' heads shaven? (*There are two reasons: one relates to physical appearance, the other to a hygiene problem you probably heard of in elementary school.) • 8. Why is the warning sign near the electric fence ironic?

  7. Chapter 3 Quotations/Commentary • “My hand shifted…left alone” (39). • “You must never lose faith, even when the sword hangs over your head. That’s the teaching of our sages” (40). • “For the first time…what had I to thank Him for” (42)? • “Never…as God himself. Never”(43). • “Those absent…. Hope of finding it” (45) • “I did not move” (48). • “Work is liberty” (49). • “I had ceased to pray” (53).

  8. Chapter 4 Questions • 1. In what ways is Buna different from Auschwitz Birkenau? • 2. How is Alphonse different from most of the other Kapos? Why do you think this was the case? • 3. Elie felt ill at ease when he noticed the dentist's teeth. Why do you think he felt that way? • 4. Copy the five sentences which begin, "I now took little interest in anything..." (60). How is it that Elie marks the passage of time? What does that tell you about his physical and mental state? • 5. There is a break in the story right after the French girl speaks to Elie. Why does he stop his story here in order to relate what he does? What does this show you about the camaraderie of concentration camp prisoners? • 6. Re-read the scene where Elie's father is beaten by Idek. Elie describes two things that he thinks which make both him and the reader uneasy. List and describe why these things are so very abominable and disgusting. • 7. How does Franek "motivate" Elie to give up his gold crown? How is it extracted? Do you think that there was any anesthetic involved? What about the dangers of tetanus? • 8. What does Elie see that gets him in trouble? What could have happened to the Kapo if the SS found out? What is Elie's punishment? • 9. Re-read the part which includes, "Hundreds of men crawled with him, scraping their knees with his on the gravel. Every heart trembled, but with envy above all. This man had dared." Did the other men actually crawl with him? • 10. What do you think killed the man from question 9? Why do you think that? • 11. Why did the bombing so excite the prisoners? Weren't they still intent upon living? • 12. What are black crows? • 13. How does the death of the young boy at the end of the chapter differ from the other prisoners? • 14. Why are the prisoners so affected by the hanging of the young boy? What is the response to the question, "Where is God now?"

  9. Chapter 4 Commentary • “Their parents, like mine, had lacked the courage to wind up their affairs and emigrate while there was still time” (58). • “What is more, any anger I felt…camp life had made of me” (62). • “Where is God? Where is He” (71)? • “That night the soup tasted of corpses” (72).

  10. Chapter 5 Questions • 1. At the beginning of the chapter, Elie writes, "Why do You still trouble their sick minds, their crippled bodies?" To whom is he talking? Why does He trouble the Jews in the concentration camps? • 2. Why does Elie say that men are greater than God? • 3. Elie decides not to fast on Yom Kippur as a form of defiance against God. Yet he feels something at the same time which, even through his anger, disturbs him. What is it? • 4. It has been said that a person's eyes are windows into the soul. How does Elie describe the eyes of AkibaDrumer? • 5. Why does Drumer lose his will to live? How about Elie? Is there a difference between the two? • 6. What effect does morphine have on the body? How would rumors of the approach of the Red Army act as morphine for the prisoners? • 7. Why would the Germans go to all the trouble to move the prisoners away from the front lines into the heart of Germany? (look for two reasons, one of them practical) • *8. After reading the rest of the book, why do you think that Elie mentioned the fate of those who remained at the camp hospital? What feelings do you think he had regarding the decision he made for/with his father?

  11. Chapter 5 Commentary • “Night was falling” (73). • “Why, but why should I bless Him?...Your name” (74-75)! • “The bell had just rung” (80). • “The inheritance” (81). • “I’ve got more faith in Hitler…people” (87). • “Let’s hope that we shan’t regret it, Eliezer” (88). • “He ordered four prisoners to wash the wooden floors” (89-90).

  12. Chapter 6 Questions Answer Commentary “One felt oneself reviving…” (91). “My father’s presence… side…support” (92-93). “Letting oneself be pushed by the mob…destiny” (93) “Letting the distance between then grow” (97). • 1. When running with the SS, what does Elie think will ease his run? • 2. How is death personified on page 92? • 3. How far had the prisoners run during the night? What does this tell you about the capabilities of the human body? • 4. What simile does Elie use to describe the snow on page 94? • 5. How does Elie describe his walk outside the shed? • 6. What did Rabbi Eliahou's son do that was so despicable? • 7. How long did the men stay at Gleiwitz? Were they fed or given water? • 8. How did Elie save his father's life? • 9. Since the men were not allowed to sit down or bend over to eat snow, how did they get water while waiting for the train? • 10. What kind of train cars do the prisoners ride in as they are moved at the end of the chapter?

  13. Chapter 6 Commentary • “One felt oneself reviving…” (91). • “My faAt my side…I have of him” (92). • “Letting oneself be pushed by the mob…destiny” (93) • “Letting the distance between then grow” (97).

  14. Chapter 7-9 Questions • Chapter 7 • 1. What simile does Elie use to describe the scene in the railroad car as dawn breaks? • 2. How long do they travel in the railroad cars? • 3. What other father and son horror does Elie witness on the train? What is the outcome of this? How old is Elie? • 4. How many lived through the transport? • 5. Where did they eventually arrive? • Chapter 8 • 1. What is personified as the person with whom Elie argues at the beginning of the chapter? • 2. What horrible thought shames Elie when he wakes up from his deep sleep in the barracks? • 3. How does Elie describe his father's face just before all the prisoners went into the showers on their third day in Buchenwald? • 4. What haunts Elie about his father's last moments? • 5. Why was Elie unable to cry upon learning that his father was dead? • 6. What was the phrase that crept into Elie's mind when he realized that his father was gone? • Chapter 9 • 1. What had the Germans planned to do with the camp after the last prisoners had been evacuated? Why do you think that they planned to do this? • 2. How long did Elie and his fellow block members go without food during the evacuation? • 3. What did they eat during these days? • 4. What illness does Elie contract after the liberation? • 5. How does Elie describe his appearance in the mirror?

  15. Chapter 7-9 Commentary • “…like a sack of flower” (104). • “…otherwise showed no surprise” (105). • “Have mercy on him! I, his only son” (114).

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