NIGHT

= = Night [|Digital Book Talk]

===Born in the town of Sighet, Transylvania, Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and then to Buchenwald. Night is the terrifying record of Elie Wiesel's memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and his despair as a deeply observant Jew confronting the absolute evil of man.=== -Night, Hill and Wang Publishing

= Oprah and Elie Wiesel at Auschwitz: = [|Part I:] [|Part II:] [|Part III:] [|Part IV:] [|Part V:] [|Part VI:]

Elie Wiesel Interviews:
[|Elie Wiesel Speaks at Buchenwald] [|Did the World Learn from Auschwitz?]

=INSIDE AUSCHWITZ:= [|Inside Auschwitz] Click on the above link to answer the following questions: 1. What kind of car did Wiesel arrive at Auschwitz in? 2. What did Oprah call the woman who saw the flames? 3. How old was Elie Wiesel upon his arrival? 4. What type of poison was dropped into the gas chambers? 5. When this poison mixed with air, it became what type of gas? 6. Who took the picture of Wiesel in the bunk? 7. Why is it hard for Wiesel to enter the bunk house? 8. Name one experiment the sadistic doctor would perform on the prisoners? 9. What happened to the infants upon arrival? 10. What is displayed in the glass case over 67 feet long?

= VOCABULARY =
 * Literary Terms ||= Chapter 1: ||= Chapter 2: ||= Chapter 3: ||= Chapter 4: ||= Chapter 5: ||= Chapter 6: ||= Chapter 7: ||= Chapter 8: ||= Chapter 9: ||
 * autobiography ||= Hasidic ||= hermetically ||= hysterical ||= hooligan ||= lamentation ||= automatons ||= indifference ||= hillock ||= idleness ||
 * point of view ||= synagogue ||= pious ||= incite ||= bouts ||= emaciated ||= bereaved ||= grimace ||= plaintive ||= resistance ||
 * conflict ||= cabbala ||= pestilential ||= notorious ||= sanctity ||= prophecies ||= encumbrance ||= contagion ||= beseeching ||=  ||
 * irony ||= Talmud ||= abominable ||= monocle ||= queue ||= annihilate ||= semblance ||=  ||= invalids ||=   ||
 * imagery ||= Gestapo ||= truncheons ||= paternal ||= Aryan ||=  ||= apathy ||=   ||= spasmodically ||=   ||
 * symbolism ||= rabbi ||=  ||= crematory ||= refuge ||=   ||= appeasing ||=   ||=   ||=   ||
 * theme ||= diplomacy ||=  ||= lorry ||= imperceptibly ||=   ||= spectacle ||=   ||=   ||=   ||
 * ||= Zionism ||=  ||= humanity ||= gallows ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||
 * ||= Fascist ||=  ||= bestial ||= raucous ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||
 * ||= billeted ||=  ||= lucidity ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||
 * ||= ghetto ||=  ||= harangued ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||
 * ||= treatise ||=  ||= colic ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||
 * ||= anecdotes ||=  ||= reverie ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||
 * || deportation ||  || base ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ||  ||   || Messiah ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ||  ||   || Messiah ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||

= STUDY QUESTIONS FOR NIGHT: = Chapter 1: 1. Describe Moshe the Beadle. Explain his relationship with the Jews of Sighet, particularly Eliezer. 2. How does deportation change Moshe? How do others' feelings toward him change? 3. Why are spirits among the Jews of Sighet relatively high at the beginning of Night? 4. Describe life in the Sighet ghettos. 5. Explain the opportunities for escape that the Wiesels miss before evacuation.

Chapter 2: 1. Describe the ghetto evacuation and journey to Auschwitz. 2. Identify the first signs of the ability of humans to act inhuman under tremendous stress. 3. Interpret the significance of Madame Schachter's insane warnings.

Chapter 3: 1. Describe the first selection. 2. How do Eliezer and his father survive the first selection? 3. Explain the purpose of Birkenau. 4. What ultimately causes the dramatic change in Eliezer's religious faith at Birkenau? 5. Describe Eliezer's plan if he is selected for death at Brikenau. 6. Describe the prisoners' indoctrination into concentration camp life. 7. How do the prisoners' indoctrination benefit the Nazis? 8. For the most part, humanity was lost in the camps. Note acts of kindness and signs of hope in the midst of the bestiality.

Chapter 4: 1. What is Buna? What does Eliezer do there? 2. What does the hanging of the child who looks like a sad angel symbolize for Eliezer? 3. Describe the Kapos. 4. What is ironic about the prisoners' feelings about air raids? 5. Explain the prisoners' attitude toward death.

Chapter 5: 1. Describe Eliezer's feelings as the prisoners observe the Jewish New Year. 2. How do the prisoners in Eliezer's block survive the New Year's selection? 3. Describe the exchange of possessions between father and son when it appears that the elder Wiesel has been selected for death. 4. Why is Eliezer admitted to the camp hospital? What dangers face him there? 5. Discuss and evaluate Eliezer's decision to leave the hospital early.

Chapter 6: 1. What keeps Eliezer going during the brutal march? 2. How does the realization that the Rabbi Eliahou's son purposely abandoned the Rabbi affect Eliezer? 3. How does Eliezer save his father from the selection at Gleiwitz? Interpret what this reveals about Eliezer's continued commitment to his father.

Chapter 7: 1. Describe the tragic incident between father and son on the train. What might this event reveal about the fragile nature of humanity?

Chapter 8: 1. Explain why Eliezer's father is denied medical care at Buchenwald. 2. Discuss Eliezer's feelings of guilt as his father dies. Do you think his feelings are rational?

Chapter 9: 1. Describe the events that lead up to the liberation of Buchenwald. 2. What do the liberated prisoners do first? 3. Explain the irony of Eliezer's nearly fatal illness after liberation. 4. Discuss Eliezer's closing image of himself. = =