Ch 8 pg 102
Quote: “They didn’t give us anything… they said that if we were ill we should die soon anyway and it would be a pity to waste the food. I can’t go on anymore.”
Reflection: After making the prisoners suffer as much as they have they still have the nerve to tell them if they are ill well just die already and get over it because you are useless. Eli’s father was one of the ill prisoners. He noticed each day his father became weak. This must be a sad progression to see one’s father being a strong man to slowly diminishing because of the concentration camps. The process of watching one’s father die slowly and painfully just not knowing when the moment of death would come is heartbreaking after being through so much together.
12/31/08
Night
Ch 7 pg 94
Quote: “No!” “He isn’t dead! Not yet!”
Reflection: Eli with great desperation did what ever he could in order to wake his father up and show that he wasn’t dead. After Eli slapped his father as hard as he could he opened his eyes and began to breath weakly. At least twenty bodies were thrown out of the train in a deep snow of a field in Poland.
Quote: “No!” “He isn’t dead! Not yet!”
Reflection: Eli with great desperation did what ever he could in order to wake his father up and show that he wasn’t dead. After Eli slapped his father as hard as he could he opened his eyes and began to breath weakly. At least twenty bodies were thrown out of the train in a deep snow of a field in Poland.
Night
Ch 6 pg 88
Quote: “Keep going! We are getting there! Courage! Only a few more hours! We’re reaching Gleiwitz.”
Reflection: These were the words of encouragement the German officers told the Jews after running forty-two miles. Those that were weak and couldn’t keep up were shot or trampled by the thousands of other men running behind them. Yes, they were running to go to a new camp somewhere in Germany, but what where they to expect to happen to themselves.
Quote: “Keep going! We are getting there! Courage! Only a few more hours! We’re reaching Gleiwitz.”
Reflection: These were the words of encouragement the German officers told the Jews after running forty-two miles. Those that were weak and couldn’t keep up were shot or trampled by the thousands of other men running behind them. Yes, they were running to go to a new camp somewhere in Germany, but what where they to expect to happen to themselves.
Night
Ch 5 pg 78
Quote: “Let’s be evacuated with the others.”
Reflection: After Eli and his father had been threw so much together he didn’t wish to be separated from his father. Even with his recently operated foot he decided to stay with his dad instead of them both staying in the hospital. Eli must have thought of him as stupid after finding out what the fate of the ones who stayed behind in the hospital, they were freed two days later.
Quote: “Let’s be evacuated with the others.”
Reflection: After Eli and his father had been threw so much together he didn’t wish to be separated from his father. Even with his recently operated foot he decided to stay with his dad instead of them both staying in the hospital. Eli must have thought of him as stupid after finding out what the fate of the ones who stayed behind in the hospital, they were freed two days later.
Night
Ch 4 pg 61
Quote: “Where is God? Where is He?”
Reflection: Many of the Jews that had gone into the concentration camps had gone in with a strong faith. Although most after the first day of arriving lost faith after seeing all the injustice being done and no one to do anything about it. The prisoners themselves had suffered cruelties from German officers, but did nothing because of fear. They had been waiting for something to be done primarily from God.
Quote: “Where is God? Where is He?”
Reflection: Many of the Jews that had gone into the concentration camps had gone in with a strong faith. Although most after the first day of arriving lost faith after seeing all the injustice being done and no one to do anything about it. The prisoners themselves had suffered cruelties from German officers, but did nothing because of fear. They had been waiting for something to be done primarily from God.
Night
Ch 4 pg 59
Quote: “Do you think this ceremony will be over soon? I’m hungry…”
Reflection: The ceremony that was taking place during this time was for a prisoner who was being condemned to death for stealing something during the alert. However, the sight of dead had been something normal to the prisoner’s eyes especially after going from camp Auschwitz were thousands died daily and Birkeau were they cremated people in ovens. Now all they were worried about was surviving and in order to do that they had to eat daily to keep their strength. Thanks to the concentration camps that’s all each individual worried about.
Quote: “Do you think this ceremony will be over soon? I’m hungry…”
Reflection: The ceremony that was taking place during this time was for a prisoner who was being condemned to death for stealing something during the alert. However, the sight of dead had been something normal to the prisoner’s eyes especially after going from camp Auschwitz were thousands died daily and Birkeau were they cremated people in ovens. Now all they were worried about was surviving and in order to do that they had to eat daily to keep their strength. Thanks to the concentration camps that’s all each individual worried about.
Night
Ch 3 pg 42
Quote: “The only thing that keeps me alive, is that Reizel and the children are still alive. If it wasn’t for them I couldn’t keep going.”
Reflection: Stein, an officer, who was also a relative of Eli and his father spoke these words. He was told by Eli that his wife and children were well but it was a lie. The truth was his mother hadn’t heard from Reizel or received any letters from her since 1940. It was 1944 and Stein was now leaving to Antwerp he would have real news of what actually happened to his family.
Quote: “The only thing that keeps me alive, is that Reizel and the children are still alive. If it wasn’t for them I couldn’t keep going.”
Reflection: Stein, an officer, who was also a relative of Eli and his father spoke these words. He was told by Eli that his wife and children were well but it was a lie. The truth was his mother hadn’t heard from Reizel or received any letters from her since 1940. It was 1944 and Stein was now leaving to Antwerp he would have real news of what actually happened to his family.
Night
Ch 3 pg 33
Quote: “Not cry? Were on threshold of death… Soon we shall have crossed over … Don’t you understand? How can I not cry?”
Reflection: After all the things that the Jews seen other Jews go through it was only normal for one to cry. Children, babies and adults were being cremated. The strong young men were ordered to carry the bodies into the crematory oven even if they were their own relatives. Through all the confusion of what was going to happen to them next was torture because all that was expected was death.
Quote: “Not cry? Were on threshold of death… Soon we shall have crossed over … Don’t you understand? How can I not cry?”
Reflection: After all the things that the Jews seen other Jews go through it was only normal for one to cry. Children, babies and adults were being cremated. The strong young men were ordered to carry the bodies into the crematory oven even if they were their own relatives. Through all the confusion of what was going to happen to them next was torture because all that was expected was death.
Night
Ch 2 pg 22
Quote: There are eighty of you in this wagon”, “If anyone is missing you’ll all be shot, like dogs.”
Reflection: Now the German’s true colors and intentions showed. Unlike in the beginning when they first came to the little town of Transylvania they seemed polite and sympathetic. The Jews rights have not only been taken away, now they are being treated like dogs. To imagine the terror that was afflicted on them just at this moment most have been horrible because if just one person was missing everyone would have paid the price
Quote: There are eighty of you in this wagon”, “If anyone is missing you’ll all be shot, like dogs.”
Reflection: Now the German’s true colors and intentions showed. Unlike in the beginning when they first came to the little town of Transylvania they seemed polite and sympathetic. The Jews rights have not only been taken away, now they are being treated like dogs. To imagine the terror that was afflicted on them just at this moment most have been horrible because if just one person was missing everyone would have paid the price
Night
Ch1 pg 12
Quote: There’s someone knocking on the blocked-up window the one that faces outside!”
Reflection: The one who knocked was one of the inspector in the Hungarian police, a friend of my father. The inspector promise to warm the family if their was going to be danger. However it was to late because by the time they opened the window he was gone. It’s sad because if they would have spoke with the inspector they would have fled that night and prevented all the cruelty from happening.
Quote: There’s someone knocking on the blocked-up window the one that faces outside!”
Reflection: The one who knocked was one of the inspector in the Hungarian police, a friend of my father. The inspector promise to warm the family if their was going to be danger. However it was to late because by the time they opened the window he was gone. It’s sad because if they would have spoke with the inspector they would have fled that night and prevented all the cruelty from happening.
Night
Ch 1 pg 6
Quote: The Russian army’s making gigantic strides forward… Hitler won’t be able to do us any harm even if he wants to.”
Reflection: Most people doubted that Hitler wanted to exterminate Jews or anyone who wasn’t German. Just like they doubted the stories Moshe told that happened to Jews that were foreigners during the months they were gone. That’s the reason for why Moshe strived so hard to get the Jews to listen to help them be prepared for when this would happen to them. Besides three years had passed so it was logical for the Jews to doubt that Hitler would do anything.
Quote: The Russian army’s making gigantic strides forward… Hitler won’t be able to do us any harm even if he wants to.”
Reflection: Most people doubted that Hitler wanted to exterminate Jews or anyone who wasn’t German. Just like they doubted the stories Moshe told that happened to Jews that were foreigners during the months they were gone. That’s the reason for why Moshe strived so hard to get the Jews to listen to help them be prepared for when this would happen to them. Besides three years had passed so it was logical for the Jews to doubt that Hitler would do anything.
Night
Ch 1 pg 4
Quote: “Moshe had changed. There was no longer any joy in his eyes. He no longer talked to me of god or of the cabbala but only of what he had seen.”
Reflection: Of course Moshe changed months had passed and he had to endure all that he seen. He tells the story of what the Gastapos did to others . For instance when they used babies as target practice. Tobias who begged to be killed before his sons and Malka a young girl who took three days to die. All of these situations the Jews went through showed the lack of morals the Gastapo had toward the Jews. As well as, Moshe having to fear for his own life. After Moshe escaped the stories he told people refused to believe or to even listen to them. He no longer talked about them. He no longer talked about God which he did a lot before showing how he lost his faith in God.
Quote: “Moshe had changed. There was no longer any joy in his eyes. He no longer talked to me of god or of the cabbala but only of what he had seen.”
Reflection: Of course Moshe changed months had passed and he had to endure all that he seen. He tells the story of what the Gastapos did to others . For instance when they used babies as target practice. Tobias who begged to be killed before his sons and Malka a young girl who took three days to die. All of these situations the Jews went through showed the lack of morals the Gastapo had toward the Jews. As well as, Moshe having to fear for his own life. After Moshe escaped the stories he told people refused to believe or to even listen to them. He no longer talked about them. He no longer talked about God which he did a lot before showing how he lost his faith in God.
12/25/08
Night Questions
Questions for Consideration: Elie Wiesel's Night
1) Where is Wiesel's childhood home? Locate the country on a map.
3) Wiesel says that when he was young, he wanted to study the cabala in order to know the truths of this world. What kinds of truths is he referring to? After you complete Night, return to this question: what kinds of truth was the young Elie ignorant of?
By studying the cabala Wiesel thought that he would learn certain truths like ways to get closer to God, as well as what to expect would happen in the future, or even ways he could strengthen his faith in God. Elie was ignorant of the truths that their would come a time when his faith that he had towards God would be tested.
4) Why is Moshe the Beadle a significant character? What does he tell Elie about answers, questions, and the truth? After you complete Night, return to this question: why was Moshe prescient in his admonition to Elie?
Moshe is a significant character because he questions certain things Elie does and by questioning Elie he begins to question also. He told Elie that not every question has an answer. Moshe also says that men as God questions and God answers but they don't understand them. The only place to find the true answers is within one self.
5) Why do the people of Sighet ignore Moshe after he returns from his escape? Why don't they listen to him?
By seeing the forms of torture the Germans came up with made him change his thinking about life and God because he seen all these injustices and was waiting for God to intervine. As a result his tone changed about God and faith which affected the rest of the book Night.
9) How does Elie's understanding of God and God's presence—or absence— continue to change throughout Night? When is he most angry with God? When is not angry at all? Mark passages throughout Night that illustrate his changing attitudes toward God.
After seeing camp Auschwitz and breathing in the flames is when he becomes upset with God for allowing this to happen and not do anything about it. He isn't angry anymore after with God when he decides to eat instead of fast.
10) What literal and figurative (symbolic or metaphorical) meanings does night have in Night?
Night is such a slim book because the emphasis was to illustrate the horror that Jews went through in concentration camps and how was it that humanity didn't do anything about it they were jus silent. His point being that such events like this shouldn't repeat themselves and if they do their should be something done about it.
12) Is Night a memoir of tragedy or triumph? Can it be both? If so, why? If not, why not?
Night is a memoir of tragedy because it seemed like not much was done to try to stop Hitler and help free the prisoners that were in the concentration camps. A period of about four years had passed until the Nazi reign was over. As a result families were split lives were destroyed to say the least, and other backgrounds or religons that weren't German were tried to be gotten rid of, so it is truely a tragedy because this happened and is remembered in history to this day.
1) Where is Wiesel's childhood home? Locate the country on a map.
Wiesel's childhood home is in the tiny town of Sighet in Transylvania. On the map
Transylvania is located in the country of Romania.
2) Wiesel opens Night by relating his youthful desire to study the cabala. What is the cabala?
3) Wiesel says that when he was young, he wanted to study the cabala in order to know the truths of this world. What kinds of truths is he referring to? After you complete Night, return to this question: what kinds of truth was the young Elie ignorant of?
By studying the cabala Wiesel thought that he would learn certain truths like ways to get closer to God, as well as what to expect would happen in the future, or even ways he could strengthen his faith in God. Elie was ignorant of the truths that their would come a time when his faith that he had towards God would be tested.
4) Why is Moshe the Beadle a significant character? What does he tell Elie about answers, questions, and the truth? After you complete Night, return to this question: why was Moshe prescient in his admonition to Elie?
Moshe is a significant character because he questions certain things Elie does and by questioning Elie he begins to question also. He told Elie that not every question has an answer. Moshe also says that men as God questions and God answers but they don't understand them. The only place to find the true answers is within one self.
5) Why do the people of Sighet ignore Moshe after he returns from his escape? Why don't they listen to him?
After Moshe returns and he tell his stories of the way foreign Jews were being torchered he was ignored by the people they believed he had become crazy. Although perhaps the true reason the didn't listen to him was because of fear, yet they still doubted that what Moshe told them was true because this reassured them that Hitler wouldn't be able to do anything to the Jews even if he wanted to.
6) Who is Madame Schachter? In what ways is she similar to Moshe the Beadle? (Think about prophetic figures and how people often ignore them.)
Madame Schachter was a woman, who traveled in the same train as Elie and his family as well as other Jews. Days before they had go to their destination she would have nightmares and wake up in the middle of the night crying and screaming that their was a fire and flames. At the beginning all the Jews in the train really thought their was a fire but they didn't see anything. Night after night she would wake up screaming saying their was a fire and it smelled like the burning flesh. Jews in the same train became frightened so they beat her in order to keep her quite. The day they reached the camp all the Jews seen was fire and flames they were from chimneys were they were burning people. Madame Schachter is similar to Moshe because he too tried to tell everyone something terrible was going to happen except none of the Jews listened until it was to late.
7) Consider this passage on pg. 32:Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desires to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God himself. Never.Even though it was Elie's first day in camp Auschwitz for him it seemed like weeks. After seeing the ditches were people and children were burned alive those images had never left his memory. The things he seen are memories that are perminent and as of that day he had lost all faith in God.
8) What is the context of this passage? How has the young Elie's theology changed? As you continue reading, ask yourself how this passage speaks to the rest of Night.By seeing the forms of torture the Germans came up with made him change his thinking about life and God because he seen all these injustices and was waiting for God to intervine. As a result his tone changed about God and faith which affected the rest of the book Night.
9) How does Elie's understanding of God and God's presence—or absence— continue to change throughout Night? When is he most angry with God? When is not angry at all? Mark passages throughout Night that illustrate his changing attitudes toward God.
After seeing camp Auschwitz and breathing in the flames is when he becomes upset with God for allowing this to happen and not do anything about it. He isn't angry anymore after with God when he decides to eat instead of fast.
10) What literal and figurative (symbolic or metaphorical) meanings does night have in Night?
The figurative meaning night has in the novel Night is night means darkness. Yes it can be said when the holocaust occured it was a time of darkness in history. It was during the middle of the twentieth century and other humans were being treated worse then animals.
11) Why do you think Night is such a slim book? Surely Wiesel could have included much more detail.Night is such a slim book because the emphasis was to illustrate the horror that Jews went through in concentration camps and how was it that humanity didn't do anything about it they were jus silent. His point being that such events like this shouldn't repeat themselves and if they do their should be something done about it.
12) Is Night a memoir of tragedy or triumph? Can it be both? If so, why? If not, why not?
Night is a memoir of tragedy because it seemed like not much was done to try to stop Hitler and help free the prisoners that were in the concentration camps. A period of about four years had passed until the Nazi reign was over. As a result families were split lives were destroyed to say the least, and other backgrounds or religons that weren't German were tried to be gotten rid of, so it is truely a tragedy because this happened and is remembered in history to this day.
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