On Wiesel’s Night Thomas E. Thorton English Journal (February 1990)

1. On Wiesel’s NightThomas E. ThortonEnglish Journal (February 1990) I cannot teach this book. Instead, I drop copies on their desks, like bombs on sleeping towns, and let them read. So do I, again. The stench rises from the page and chokes my throat. The ghosts of burning babies haunt my eyes. And that bouncing baton, that pointer of Death, stabs me in the heart as it sends his mother to the blackening sky. Nothing is destroyed the laws of science say, only changed. The millions transformed into precious smoke ride the wind to fill our lungs and hearts with their cries. No, I cannot teach this book. I simply want the words to burn their comfortable souls and leave them scarred for life.

2. First reading • Read it once for first impressions • Note lines of interest • Second reading • Images from the book (find them) • Tone/mood • Speaker • Fire imagery • Figurative language: similes and metaphors • Third Reading • What is he saying about the teaching of this book? • Do you agree? • Will the book scar your “comfortable soul’? Explain… • What is you “take-away” knowing your teacher feels the same way as the speaker? • How does he create the image of the book as a living, smoking, fire? 3 readings