Winter Break Assignment: Night by Elie Wiesel

Winter Break Reading: Everything is due: Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Night by Elie Wiesel

Directions: All of the following assignments are due by Tuesday, January 6, 2009. Some of the assignments are due on the blogger and some are due in hardcopy (typed up on regular paper) so, please make sure you follow the guidelines.

Vocabulary for Night
Directions: Write the definitions for the following words. Please turn this in hardcopy form (typed on paper.) Hand-in on Tuesday, Jan. 6.

1. prostrate 2. interlude 3. reprieve 4. rations 5. dysentery 6. robust 7. quarantine 8. apathy 9. humane 10. grimace 11. nocturnal 12. livid 13. pious 14. interminable 15. wizened 16. morale 17. infernal 18. refuge 19. oppressive 20. expelled

Directions: When reading, be an active reader: take notes and keep a journal. I want you to keep a Reaction Journal for the novel. Everytime you read 10 pages, I want you to react in writing to something you have read that was especially powerful, meaningful, or interesting. Log the page number that you are commenting on, include the date, identify the quote that you are reacting to, and your reaction, which should be a paragraph long. In total, you should have a minimum of 10 paragraphs. Keep this Reaction Journal on the Blogger; you can include pictures if you like.

Directions: Before you begin reading Night, read the questions below and keep them in mind as you read. The questions should be posted on your blogger. Remember no need to write the question out-just give a complete answer.

Questions for Consideration: Elie Wiesel's Night
1) Where is Wiesel's childhood home? Locate the country on a map.
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?
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?
5) Why do the people of Sighet ignore Moshe after he returns from his escape? Why don't they listen to him?
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.)
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.
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.
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.
10) What literal and figurative (symbolic or metaphorical) meanings does night have in Night?
11) Why do you think Night is such a slim book? Surely Wiesel could have included much more detail.
12) Is Night a memoir of tragedy or triumph? Can it be both? If so, why? If not, why not?

Write a full 3 page essay. Complete in MLA format, use direct quotes and outside sources (academic level.) Just remember to cite all. Turn in a hardcopy (formal typed essay.) Use the outline that we have been working on to help you write more effectively. Choose one of the following topics for your essay:
ESSAY QUESTIONS

1. Dehumanization is the process by which the Nazis gradually reduced the Jews to little more than "things" which were a nuisance to them. Discuss at least three specific examples of events that occurred which dehumanized Eliezer, his father, or his fellow Jews.

2. After Eliezer’s father was beaten by Idek, a Kapo, Eliezer says, "I had watched the whole scene without moving. I kept quiet. In fact I was thinking of how to get farther away so that I would not be hit myself. What is more, any anger I felt at that moment was directed, not against the Kapo, but against my father. I was angry with him, for not knowing how to avoid Idek’s outbreak. That is what concentration camp life had made of me." Discuss what the last line signifies. Discuss how his attitude had changed.

3. Discuss why you think the townspeople remained complacent despite the advance of the German army.

4. Discuss why Eliezer lied to Stein, his relative, about Stein’s family. Discuss whether or not you think he was morally right.

5. Discuss the significance of "night" in the novel. Cite examples from the story to support your answer.

6. Explain the author’s meaning when he says after the handing of the youth from Warsaw that "the soup tasted excellent that evening," yet after the pipel was hanged, "the soup tasted of corpses."
Any Questions, email me. -I will check my email over the break-Happy Holidays!!!