Chapter Four Journal Response

1
Chapter FourJournal Response
2
There are many disturbing events in chapter four.

• The dentist is hanged, and Elies response is to
  be pleased, because it means his gold crown is
  saved.
• Elies father is beaten by Idek with an iron bar,
  and Elie only thinks of how to get farther away
  from him, and is angry with his father for not
  knowing how to avoid Ideks outbreak.
• A dying man dragged himself on his stomach to
  reach an unguarded cauldron of soup, and was shot
  just as he reached it.
• The prisoners were forced to watch a hanging, and
  Julieks response was to wonder if it would take
  long, because he was hungry.
• The prisoners were forced to watch the hanging of
  a little boy who took half an hour to die. When a
  man next to Elie asked, Where is God now? Elie
  thought He is hanging here on this gallows.

3
Journal Response

• Choose one of those events, and write a one
  paragraph response.
• There is no right or wrong answer to thissimply
  write a personal response to what you read. What
  does it make you think? What questions do you
  have? How do you feel about this event?

4
Questions Record a group answer for each
question. Pass the paper after each question so
that each student records the answer for at least
one question. (Answer 2-5 sentences.)

• Bread, soupthese were my whole life. I was a
  body. Perhaps less than that even a starved
  stomach. The stomach alone was aware of the
  passage of time. What is the hungriest you have
  ever been? Can you imagine being as hungry as
  Elie describes here? Why or why not?
• Why does Elie despise his own reaction when Idek
  attacks Elies father? Can you understand his
  response at all?
• Why are the prisoners so affected when the Dutch
  Oberkapo is hanged? What is the reason the
  Gestapo give for his hanging?
• After the hanging, one of the men remarks, Where
  is God now? Elies interior voice answers, He
  is hanging here on this gallows. Explain what
  Wiesel is suggesting.