Night by Elie Wiesel

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Night
By Elie Wiesel
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• Systematic persecution of European Jews began as
  soon as the Nazis gained control of Germany's
  government in 1933.
• Within two years, the party decreed the Nuremberg
  Race Laws, which deprived Jews of German
  citizenship.
• In 1938, Kristallnacht, a government-organized
  campaign of street violence, resulted in the
  destruction of synagogues, businesses, and homes
  in Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia.
• Soon Jews would be forced to wear the Star of
  David sewn to their clothing, as we will see in
  Night.

The Holocaust
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• More on Kristallnacht.
• Pogrom Russian term meaning to wreak havoc, to
  demolish violently
• The term first was used to refer to
  well-organized, violent attacks perpetrated
  against the Jewish population in late 19th, and
  early 20th cen. Russia.
• Now, pogroms is used to refer to such violent
  attacks against Jews before and during WWII.

The Holocaust
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• Adolf Hitlers Genocide

• Genocide the deliberate and systematic
  extermination of a national, racial, political,
  or cultural group.
• His goal was to exterminate all Jewish people.
• In March of 1944, the German army took over
  Hungary, and the holocaust reached that region.
• The Nazis murdered over 560,000 Hungarian Jews.

Hitlers army
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• Desperate after the Great Depression, Germans
  embraced Adolf Hitler's promise of riches to
  those he dubbed "the master race"Aryans of pure
  German blood.
• On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and
  started World War II.
• The German army immediately began isolating the
  Jewish population in ghettos.
• In 1942, Nazis declared "The Final Solution," a
  plan to murder all European Jews. (euphemism)
• The widespread deportation of Jewish families
  from the ghettos to concentration camps began.

The Holocaust
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• While the book Night is about Wiesels life, it
  is not considered an autobiography, which
  typically sketches out an individuals entire
  life story.
• He focuses strictly on those confined set of
  specific circumstances that have significantly
  impacted his life.
• Because of this, his nonfiction story is
  considered a memoir rather than an autobiography.

• Genre of Night

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• Genre of Night

• Memoir a literary nonfiction genre that details
  a collection of specific and moving memories
  recorded by the individual who experienced them.
  (somewhat similar to an autobiography)
• Elie- narrator and protagonist of his own
  history.
• Why do you think Wiesel called his memoir Night?
• Wiesel called his experiences of writing his
  story cathartic. Why do you think he used this
  word?

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• Preface Forewords- both introductory segments
  of a literary work.
• Preface- written by the author to provide a solid
  basis of credibility.
• Foreword- written by what would be seen as a
  credible source in an attempt to introduce the
  author to the reader remind the reader why they
  should be reading this particular work.

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• Anaphora a repetition of a word or series of
  words for poetic/dramatic effect. The repetition
  is typically found at the beginning of successive
  clauses.
• Motif any subject, idea, concept, that is
  present all throughout a literary work. (It is
  almost like a mini theme)..

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• Foreword of Night

• 1. How does Francois Mauriac feel about being
  interviewed by the young Wiesel? Why might this
  be?
• 2. What does iniquity mean as it is used on p.
  xviii?
• 3. What literary device is predominant on p. xix?
• 4. Why might rhetorical questions be used so
  predominantly on p. xxi?
• 5. Why does Mauriac end his foreword with All I
  could do was embrace him and weep?

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• Eliezer -  The narrator of Night, protagonist, a
  teenage boy in the 1940s. Dedicated to his
  faith in the beginning.
• Chlomo - Eliezers father. His name is only
  mentioned one time throughout the novel, and is
  the only other character that is constant until
  the end. Highly regarded in the community.
• Moshe the Beadle -
• Eliezers teacher of Jewish mysticism, Moshe is
  a poor Jew who lives in Sighet.

• Characters

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Elie as a young boy.

• Chapter 1
• Moishe is an expert on the Kabbalah, an area of
  Judaism (Jewish mysticism) Elie has a deep
  interest in.
• Moishe- awkward, doesnt seem to care about
  what others think of him. He is comfortable in
  his own skin, seems completely sustained by his
  faith.
• Elies father thinks he is too young to study the
  Kabbalah. It is the sort of area that can only
  be understood by those with greater wisdom and
  life experience..

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Elie as a young boy.

• It is 1941..The memoir opens with Moishe the
  Beadle, a devoutly religious, poorest of the
  poor Jew from Elies hometown of Sighet in
  Transylvania (This region is now part of
  Romania).
• Notice that people, though, dont seem to mind
  that hes poor hes almost invisible, a
  harmless kind of guy...
• Moishe has a profound effect on Elies
  spirituality as a young boy of almost 13.

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• Elie has two older sisters, Hilda and Bea, and
  one younger sister, Tzipora.
• Elies crying when he prays reveals his
  tremendous faith. He is tremendously moved and
  affected by the idea of praying to God. Moishe
  helps foster Elies dialogue with God.

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• Moishe, since he is a foreign
• Jew, is taken out of Sighet
• due to Nazi orders.
• He tries to warn the others of
• his horrible experiences, but they do need listen
  to
• his warnings for various reasons they believe he
  
• actually is crazy or they are trying to protect
• themselves from hearing a horrible
  reality.(inciting incident)
• Moishe is never the same again he never recovers
• from his experiences.

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• 1943 was a reasonably good year for the
  Wiesels. The people of Sighet still fail to
  understand the depth of the threat that is fast
  approaching. Life is anything but normal.
• Annihilate an entire people?...By what means?
  Of course we had heard of the Fascists, but it
  was all in the abstract. (not based in reality)-
  reflects their denial.
• 1944- Red Army (Soviets) make strides against
  Hitler.
• Optimism soon revived. personification
  situational irony a great contrast between what
  actually happens and what is expected or
  appropriate.

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• As begun during Kristallnacht, the Jews of Sighet
  notice their rights slipping away as edicts are
  issued. (an official order typically issued by
  the govt)
• Mr. and Mrs. Wiesel both seem to be in a sort of
  shock
• Life is anything but normal.
• Ghettos functioned as part of a larger
  apparatus
• complex state-sponsored system designed for
  the
• purposes of control. Jews are not very
  
• frightened of the Germans since they are
  kind at
• first (strategic).
• Anaphora- No more fear. No more anguish.
• Ghetto was ruled by neither German or Jew it
  was ruled by delusion.

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• Night fell. Night is repeated as a metaphor
  for the emotional darkness and great sadness that
  envelopes Elie and his family. (Also a motif,
  powerful imagery.)
• Stern The story that he had interrupted would
  remain unfinished.- foreshadowing of the
  separation that was soon to occur.
• Chlomo knows the transports to the camps are
  about to begin. The ghettos will be emptied the
  citizens will innocently board train cars to be
  sent to the death camps.

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• Phylacteries- Jewish term- leather pouches or
  boxes worn on the body containing Old Testament
  passages. They are considered sacred objects or
  like relics.
• Notice Elies description of the pitiful relics
  and valuable objects all over the
  ghettos..Elie still has his phylacteries.
• Chief Rabbi was presumably forced to shave his
  beard. The face of Mrs. Wiesel is like a mask-
  her emotions have become deadened(Or have
  they?....)
• Elie Oh God, Master of the Universe!-
  apostrophe, personification kenning- Notice
  his faith is still intact
• Conflagration- destructive fire (foreshadowing
  of /allusion to the fires in the death camps)

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• Chapter 2
• Notice the inhumane conditions the people are
  forced to tolerate during the transports they
  are so cramped they cannot lie down, are without
  anything to drink, and are extremely hot, are
  referred to as dogs.
• Gestapo If anyone escapes, those remaining would
  be shot.
• Mrs. Schachter- her hysteria is a foreshadowing
  (prediction/hint) of what awaits them. They beat
  her mercilessly as she screams repeatedly about
  fire. She currently is with her son. She never
  recovered from being separated from her husband
  and two sons. She knows what awaits them. (How
  is she like Moishe?)
• The separation had totally shattered her.

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• Chapter 2
• Their great ignorance they do not know what is
  happening at Auschwitz. Also, who does Elie
  refer to as strange-looking creatures? Why do
  you think he does this? Who are these people?
• The smell of burning flesh overpowers them as
  they arrive at Birkenau, part of the Auschwitz
  complex.
• The only thing that quiets Mrs. Schachter is the
  stopping of the train. Why might this be?
• It is around midnight.

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• Chapter 3
• Elie feels pressure to lie about his age and
  occupation to the SS officer since only those who
  are young and useful will escape selection. He
  is separated forever from his mother and Tzipora.
  
• The prisoners want to fight for their lives, but
  they are unable to do so under constant threat of
  death We cant let them kill us like that, like
  cattle in a slaughterhouse.
• Dr. Mengele- Angel of Death- kenning- among the
  worst of the SS officers- famous for his horrible
  medical experimentation upon the inmates.
• Elie is scarred by the sight of babies thrown
  into the flames
• Never shall I forget those flames- anaphora-
  his faith is forever changed by what happened.

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• Characters

• Dr. Josef Mengele - 
• the historically infamous Dr. Mengele was the
  cruel doctor who presided over the selection of
  arrivals at Auschwitz/Birkenau.
• Idek - Eliezers Kapo (Nazi police officer at
  Buna, the work camp)

Dr. Josef Mengele was appropriately nicknamed
the Angel of Death by inmates at Auschwitz
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• Chapter 3
• Kaddish- Jewish prayer of mourning for the dead
• Elies changes both physically and spiritually
  he is tattooed, made to wear a uniform, his head
  is shaved, and forced to endure his various
  beatings and others suffering, esp his
  fathers.
• Bela Katz- prisoner who is forced to throw his
  own father into the furnace
• Who are Kapos?.....
• The Gypsy beats Elies father, Chlomo.
• The inscription on the gates of Auschwitz Arbeit
  Macht Frei- Work Makes You Free- irony and
  propaganda
• Never shall I forget those flames- anaphora-
  his faith is forever changed by what happened.

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Auschwitz
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• Chapter 3
• The prisoners are given rations black coffee,
  stale bread, soup. At first, Elie does not wish
  to eat, but then he wishes to eat to avoid
  starvation.
• A-7713 Elies tattoo- he is stripped of his
  identity literally and figuratively.He is no
  longer thought of as a person.
• Stein- an old relative of the Weisels. He is
  looking for his wife and young sons. To protect
  Stein, Elie lies and say he knows they are ok.
• Stein We never saw him again. He had been given
  the news. The real news. verbal irony- Elie is
  referring to Steins death
• Akiba Drumer a fellow prisoner whose faith seems
  to be rock solid We have no right to despair..

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Chapter 4

• At the end of Ch. 3, Elie and his father are
  moved from Birkenau to Buna. Both camps were
  part of the Auschwitz complex in present-day
  Poland.
• Young boys became targets of sexual abuse at the
  hands of lead Nazi officers. Notice how the tent
  leader and head of the camp are portrayed very
  negatively.
• Kommandos work blocks or camps
• Elie wishes to hold onto his shoes despite being
  offered more rations. (They were all I had
  left.) They are later taken from him anyway.

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Chapter 4

• Medical examinations determine who is fit to work
  and who will be sent to the crematorium.
  Dentists would check for gold crowns and
  eventually extract them.
• Juliek, a Polish prisoner and gifted violinist,
  is forbidden to play German music (Beethoven).
• Franek- cruel Polish foreman, Kapo
• Elie pretends to be ill to save his gold crown.
  Note the irony surrounding the Jewish dentist he
  is hung for keeping the gold crowns he extracted
  from the Nazis.

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Chapter 4

• Idek- Kapo in charge of Elies work crew- prone
  to random and violent fits of madness, beats Elie
  and his father with an iron bar for virtually no
  reason
• FLASHFORWARD- literary device in which the story
  shifts forward in time. It reveals important
  parts of the story that are yet to occur.
• During the flashforward, Elie discusses meeting
  the Jewish Frenchwoman who had helped him after
  Idek had beaten him the first time. He learns
  during the flashforward that she was Jewish.

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Chapter 4

• Franek beats Elies father Chlomo mercilessly so
  that Elie will give him his gold crown. Elies
  gold crown is extracted with the help of a rusty
  spoon. Franek is later transferred to another
  camp.
• Elie catches Idek engaging in sexual relations
  with a female prisoner. Idek has Elie beaten
  publicly with a whip for spying.
• A man is shot for trying to steal a ration of
  soup during the Allied air raid.
• The camp at Buna is being bombed prisoners must
  dispose of it.

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Chapter 4

• Juliek whispers to Elie before the hanging of a
  young boy for theft This ceremony, will it be
  over soon? Im hungry
• Notice how desperate and even inhuman the
  prisoners had become. Elie himself had said that
  bread and food became his entire life.
• Oberkapo- popular head overseer, is tortured and
  transferred to Auschwitz for sabotage during an
  air raid. The young pipel (described as an
  angel) who had helped him is hung publicly.
• During this hanging, many are weeping, including
  some Nazi officers. The boy is so light that the
  hanging takes a long time. For Gods sake,
  where is God? (Elie the gallows)

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Chapter 5

• Chapter opens with prisoners gathering in prayer
  for Rosh Hashanah.
• Elies faith continues to deteriorate- refers to
  himself as a former mystic, does not fast on
  Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year-
  symbolic of his rebellion against God
• Achtung!- German for attention, instills fear
  in the prisoners
• Elie constantly begins to fear that his father
  will not pass the selection process
• Elie avoids selection only by running fast to
  prove he is fit, active, healthy.

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Chapter 5

• Elies inheritance- a knife and a spoon. He
  sobs, showing how much he has been degraded and
  how much he fears his fathers death
• Akiba Drumer, previously so faithful, struggles
  with his faith, but it is still present somewhat.
• Notice that the inmates do not say the Kaddish
  for him as Akiba had requested. They forget, are
  too concerned with survival.

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Chapter 5

• Elies right foot begins to swell for unknown
  causes in the infirmary (hospital).
• His neighbor, suffering from dysentery, fears
  Hitlers forces greatly, warns Elie that he
  should must leave the infirmary to avoid
  selection. (What would selection mean?...)
• Elies operation goes well his leg does not have
  to be amputated after all..
• Rhetorical questions throughout the narration
  make the reader think, heighten the mood, add
  drama and tension.

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Quick Review of Key Literary Terms

• The plot of most literary works can be broken
  down into parts
• 1.EXPOSITION
• Introduction of setting and characters
• 2. INCITING INCIDENT
• Turning point, or key event that introduces a
  conflict, drives plot forward
• 3. RISING ACTION/COMPLICATION
• 4. CLIMAX moment of highest tension
• 5. FALLING ACTION/DENOUEMENT
• 6. RESOLUTION Conflicts resolved

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Diagramming the Plot.

• 1.EXPOSITION
• Audience is introduced to Elie, his family,
  Moishe
• 2. INCITING INCIDENT/EXCITING FORCE
• Moishe tries to warn the Jews of Sighet about
  what had happened to him and the threat that was
  coming.
• 3. RISING ACTION/COMPLICATION
• Begins later in Chapter 1 when the Germans first
  arrive in Elies community.
• 4. CLIMAX- occurs when the Jews are running from
  Buna, and Elies father is on the brink of death.
  
• 5. FALLING ACTION/DENOUEMENT American forces
  come to Buchenwald to free the prisoners.
• 6. RESOLUTION is achieved Elie is at last
  free- looks into the mirror

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Chapter 5

• 3 Types of irony
• Verbal Irony a statement in which a character
  says one things but means something else. It is
  typically intentional, is similar to sarcasm.
• A royal feast going to waste! (Elie on the
  soup..)
• Dramatic Irony the reader knows more than the
  audience
• Situational Irony what actually happens is not
  what one would expect or what would be
  appropriate.
• After the war, I learned the fate of those who
  had remained at the infirmary. They
  were,.liberated by the Russians

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Chapter 6

• What are the Jews typically referred to as all
  throughout the memoir?
• As subhuman, as animals, dogs,swine, pigs-
  powerful imagery, also a MOTIF
• Other motifs religion, religious traditions, and
  especially the use of the word NIGHT.
• (Certainly food, too, of course).

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Chapter 6

• Zalman Polish boy who is trampled to death
  during the death march
• Elie Death enveloped me.
• Strong personification
• Jews run for at days.
• One died because one had to . No point in making
  trouble.- understatement
• All throughout, Elie uses words very minimally to
  make a more powerful statement. Understatement is
  a signature characteristic of modern prose.

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Chapter 6

• Theme importance of father-son bonds
• Rabbi Eliahus son intentionally lost his father
  during the death march, wanted to be rid of him
• Elie Oh God, Master of the Universe! Give me
  the strength never to do what REs son has
  done!Sons abandoned their fathers w/out a
  tear.
• Julieks last act- plays a Beethoven concerto-
  loaded w/ symbolism

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Chapter 7

• Euphemism- literary practice of using a milder or
  less abrasive form of a negative description
  instead of its original, unsympathetic form.
• Euphemisms substitute unpleasant and severe words
  with more genteel ones in order to mask
  harshnessThe use of euphemisms is sometimes
  manipulated to lend a touch of exaggeration or
  irony in prose.
• The label Final Solution is a sanitized
  substitute for the systematic, govt-sponsored
  murder of millions of innocents.

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Chapter 7

• Theme importance of father-son bonds continues-
  Elie protects his fathers dying body in the
  cattle car, prevents him from being buried
  half-alive
• Prisoners who serve as gravediggers- euphemism-
  emphasize how degraded they have all become,
  survival mode at its most dramatic
• Prisoners are ready to kill for a crust of
  bread.
• Flashforward Elie cannot bear the sight of the
  Frenchwoman throwing coins into a fountain and
  watching the kids fight over it the sight
  reminds him of the prisoners fighting over the
  food.

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Chapter 7

• On their way to Buchenwald in Germany, an
  unidentified man begs his son not to kill him
  over a crust of bread. The son kills the father
  for the bread, and then the son, too, is killed.
• Elie on the above incident I was sixteen.
• Understatement- why?
• A stranger strangles Elie for no reason, most
  likely due to insanity- shows again how they are
  almost not human anymore.
• Meir Katz- once so physically and mentally
  strong- cannot protect Elie.
• Chapter ends with their arrival at Buchenwald.

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Chapter 8

• Elie begins to become like a father to his own
  weakened father, Shlomo, who suffers from
  dysentery.
• Elie on his father He had already chosen
  Death
• -Personification and Foreshadowing
• Elie compares his father to a child and a
  wounded animal. He compares himself to Rabbi
  Eliahus son. Why?
• At this point, how are Elie and his father like
  Mrs. Schachter and her son?

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Chapter 8

• Elie listens to the advice of the head of the
  block save yourself! Elie does decide to give
  his father soup, but he can only tolerate water.
  Elie feels guilty- and conflicted- about viewing
  his Shlomo as a burden
• On January 29, 1945, Elie wakes up to find that
  his father has died.
• Elie on his fathers death Free at last!
• Why are these words in his consciousness?

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Chapter 9

• April 5 SS guards order Jews to gather to
  prepare for liquidation and evacuation of the
  camp
• Elies first thoughts as a free man- food
• After the death of Shlomo, nothing mattered.
• From the depth of the mirror, a corpse was
  contemplating me.
• Personification

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Chapter 9

• Elie refers to himself in the third person. Its
  almost as though the person in the mirror is a
  stranger to him. He cannot recognize himself-
  highly symbolic.

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The entrance gate to Auschwitz bears the German
words, Arbeit Macht Frei. Work makes you free,
Professor Wiesel translates. And that is the
first ironic statement ever made here.
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SymbolsThemes

• Fire
• Night
• Eliezers struggle to maintain faith in a
  benevolent God
• Silence
• Inhumanity toward other humans
• The importance of Father-Son bonds

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Rhetorical Devices

• Rhetorical Questions
• The speaker may want to encourage reflection in
  the reader.
• For example, when Eliezer sees the babies being
  thrown into the fire, he asks a series of
  questions.
• Was I still alive? Was I awake? How was it
  possible that men, women, and children were being
  burned and that the world kept silent? (p. 32)
• Eliezer does not expect an answer to these
  questions.
• He wants the reader to think about what his or
  her reaction might have been in seeing the same
  thing.

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Figurative language

• Simile
• Be certain not to miss the like or as when
  reading the descriptions.
• For example, when Eliezer describes Mrs.
  Schachter on the train he states she looked
  like a withered tree in a field of wheat. (p.
  25)
• The image shows a woman who stands alone among
  the people who surround her.
• She is already dead, as indicated by the word
  withered.

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Figurative language

• Personification
• Personification is used to give human qualities
  to animals or objects.
• A glacial wind was enveloping us.
• The stomach alone was measuring time.
• Jealousy devoured us, consumed us.

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Figurative language

• Irony
• Verbal irony is when someone says one thing and
  means another dramatic irony is when the reader
  knows something that the character does not know
  situational irony is the discrepancy between the
  expected results and the actual results.
• For example, when Eliezer goes to meet the
  dentist, the dentist has a mouth of yellow,
  rotten teeth. (p. 51)
• The irony is that a dentist should have mouth of
  perfect teeth.
• Another example of irony is the inscription that
  is on the iron gate at Auschwitz Work makes
  you free.

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Figurative Language

• Foreshadowing
• Foreshadowing is a literary device that is used
  when the speaker gives hints about what is going
  to happen later in the plot.
• There are various examples of foreshadowing in
  Night, but they are very subtle.
• The reader often recognizes them after reading
  further in the text.
• One of the clearest examples of foreshadowing is
  Mrs. Schächters vision of the fires before the
  prisoners reach the camps.

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Motifs

• Throughout Night, Wiesel repeats literary devices
  and images that help to develop the memoirs
  major themes.
• Notice
• how night and light are used throughout the text
  
• how the Jewish traditions and holidays help to
  pace the memoir and
• how animal imagery is used to explore the
  dehumanization of the Jews.

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(No Transcript)
57
The image depicts a deserted street in Sighet's
Jewish ghetto.
just three weeks before the Normandy invasion.
58
The house in Sighet where Wiesel was born
photographed in 2007.
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Elie Wiesel on his Surviving Family

• Elie When I was still in Buchenwald, I studied
  the lists of survivors, and my sisters' names
  were not there. That's why I went to France
  otherwise I would have gone back to my hometown
  of Sighet. In France, a clerk in an office at the
  orphanage told me that he had talked with my
  sister, who was looking for me. "That's
  impossible!" I told him. "How would she even know
  I am in France?" But he insisted that she'd told
  him that she would be waiting for me in Paris the
  next day. I didn't sleep that night. The next
  day, I went to Parisand there was my older
  sister! After our liberation, she had gotten
  engaged and gone to France, because she thought I
  was dead too. Then one day she opened the paper
  and saw my picture a journalist had come to the
  orphanage to take pictures and write a story. If
  it hadn't been for that, it may have been years
  before we met. My other sister had gone back to
  our hometown after our release, thinking that I
  might be there. It took almost a year after
  meeting my other sister for us to meet again.

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Elie Wiesel on his Surviving Family

• Oprah After living through such an atrocity,
  was it possible for you to be normal againto go
  on with your life?Elie What is abnormal is
  that I am normal. That I survived the Holocaust
  and went on to love beautiful girls, to talk, to
  write, to have toast and tea and live my
  lifethat is what is abnormal.Oprah How did
  what you experienced affect the way you reared
  your son?Elie I let my son choose the moment
  when we would speak about what happened to me. I
  didn't want to imposeI let him develop his own
  curiosity. When I traveled, I often took him with
  me so he could see what my work was about. And
  one day he came to me and said he wanted to go
  back with me to my hometown and the camps.

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Recognition

• Wiesel has lived his life speaking out against
  all forms of racism and violence.
• In 1985 he was awarded the Congressional Medal of
  Freedom and, in 1986, the Nobel Prize for Peace.
• He is partially responsible for
  the United States Holocaust
  Memorial Museum in
  Washington D.C.

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U.S. President Barack Obama presents the 2009
National Humanities Medal to Holocaust survivor
Elie Wiesel in the East Room of the White House
on February 25, 2010.