NIGHT QUESTIONS

Chapter 1

1. How old is Wiesel at the beginning of the novel?
2. What year is it?
3. Describe the relationship between Elie and Moshe the Beadle.
4. Who are the members of Wiesel's family?
5. Why is Moshe the Beadle deported? How and why does the experience change him?
6. Why does Moshe tell the Jews the story of his deportation? Do most listen to him? Why or Why Not?
7. How do the Jews continue to feel even after German Soldiers come to their homes?
8. When the Hungarian police come to Sighet,what decrees do they make?
9. What were the ghetos?How did the Jews rationalize being there?
10. What news does Elie's father bring back from the council meeting?
11. Describe the deportation of the jews.
12. What is the significance of the contrast between night and dawn.


CHAPTER TWO

1.What do the jews have to give up to the German police?
2.Describe the effect of the deportation on Madame Schachter.
3.What is Auschwitz? Consider that "no one had ever heard that name".
4.What is ironic about the jews giving "thanks to god" upon arrival at Auschwitz?
5.What is the significance of fire in this chapter?


CHAPTER THREE

1.What shatters the illusion of the jews?
2.What is Elie's main thought?
3.Why does another prisoner tell Elie to say he's 18 and his father to say he's 40?
4.Who is Dr.Mengele?
5.Why do the jews recite the Kaddish for themselves? Why is this unusual?
6.Why does Elie's father remind him of Madame Schacter?
7.What memories does Elie have of his first night at Auschwitz?
8.Why did the SS officers choose the strongest jews?
9.How are the Jews physically degraded?
10.What is the significance of the "dark flame" that devoured Elie's soul?
11.Why does Elie thank god for mud?,
12.What strikes Elie as unusual about his reaction when his father is knocked to the ground?
13.Describe Elie's first impression of Auschwitz?
14.What were the tables and medical instruments for?
15.What news does Stein want? Why does Elie lie?
16.Where are the jews moved to at the end of this chapter?


CHAPTER FOUR

1.What kind of work does Elie do at buna?
2.Why is Elie's gold crown important to the dentist? to Elie himself?
3.Describe Elie's encounter with the french girl.
4.When Idek beats Elie's father, how does Elie react, and what does he realize?
5.Why does Wiesel try to teach his father to march?
6.Descibe the circumstances under which a prisoner trys to steal some soup?
7.Why does the air raid excite the prisoners?
8.What are some incidents that show the pisoners becoming hardened to death?
9.Why is Elie "overwhelmed"by the hanging of the child?
10.What kind of emotion does the hanging of the little boy arouse in Elie?


CHAPTER FIVE

1.In what way does Elie begin to question his religous beliefs?
2.Why does Elie not fast on Yom Kippur?
3.what was the process of selection?
4.Why does the head of Elie's prison block advise the prisoners to run?
5.Why is Elie's dream of a better world one without bells?
6.What miracle occurs?
7.What mixed feelings does Elie have when he goes to the prison hospital for the treatment of his swollen foot?
8.What is ironic about the Hungarian Jews' "faith" in Hitler?
9.Why do Elie and his father decide to evacuate the camp with the others?
10.What does the head of the block order the floor to be washed before the prisoners leave camp?


CHAPTER SIX

1.In what ways is Elie "unaware of himself"?
2.What are some descriptive details of Elie's pain and fatigue?
3.How do Elie and his father give support to each other?
4.What imagery of death is used thoughout the chapter?
5.What paralleis (similarties) and differences are there between Elie and his father and Rabbi Eliahou and his son?
6.What is the significanceof Juliek's violin playing?


CHAPTER SEVEN

1.In what ways has Elie become indifferent?
2.Why is Elie's father almost thrown from the carriage?
3.Describe the incident with the bread. What happens between Meir and his father?
4.How is the emotional stress of the Lews' ordeal seen?
5.Where do the Jews arrive?


CHAPTER EIGHT


1.Why does Elie feel anger at his father and later shame at himself?
2Describe Elie's emotions during the final sickness and death of his father?


CHAPTER NINE



1.When the Jews are ordered to assemble, what do other prisoners warn Elie and the others of?
2.Why do the Germans want to kill or evacuate the Jews and blow up the camp?
3.Why does the camp resistance orgnization want to prevent the Jews from being evacuated?
4.What happens at 6:00 on April 10?
5.Why did the freed Jews have no thought of revenge?
6.What look do you think Elie sees in his eyes?




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