Night

1. Night By Elie Wiesel

2. Chapter 5 • Chapter opens with prisoners gathering in prayer for Rosh Hashanah. • Elie’s 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….

3. Chapter 5 • Elie’s “inheritance:- a knife and a spoon. He sobs, showing how much he has been degraded and how much he fears his father’s 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….

4. Chapter 5 • Elie’s right foot begins to swell for unknown causes in the infirmary (hospital). • His neighbor, suffering from dysentery, fears Hitler’s forces greatly, warns Elie that he should must leave the infirmary to avoid selection. (What would selection mean?...) • Elie’s 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….

5. 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…”

6. Chapter 6 • CLIMAX- occurs when the Jews are running from Buna, and Elie’s father is on the brink of death. • 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.”

7. Chapter 6 • Zalman: Polish boy who is trampled to death during the death march • Elie: “Death enveloped me.” Strong personification • Jews run for at least 3 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.

8. Chapter 6 • Theme: importance of father-son bonds • Rabbi Eliahu’s 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 RE’s son has done!”…Sons abandoned their fathers w/out a tear….” • Juliek’s last act- plays a Beethoven concerto- loaded w/ symbolism

9. Chapter 7 • Theme: importance of father-son bonds continues- Elie protects his father’s dying body in the cattle car, prevents him from being buried half-alive • Prisoners who serve as “gravediggers”- verbal irony- & metaphor- emphasizes how degraded they have all become, survival mode at its most dramatic… • Prisoners are “ready to kill for a crust of bread.” • Flashforward: Elie can’t 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.

10. 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.

11. 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 Eliahu’s son. Why? • At this point, how are Elie and his father like Mrs. Schachter and her son?

12. 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 father’s death: “Free at last!” • Why are these words in his consciousness?

13. Chapter 9 • April 5: SS guards order Jews to gather to prepare for liquidation and evacuation of the camp… • Falling action/denouement: American forces come to Buchenwald to free the prisoners…. • Elie’s 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

14. Chapter 9 • Resolution is achieved: Elie is at last free- looks into the mirror… • Elie refers to himself in the third person. It’s almost as though the person in the mirror is a stranger to him. He cannot recognize himself- highly symbolic.