Night

NightElie Wiesel

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference…And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”-Elie Wiesel

Background InformationNight

Writing Prompt• Eighth grade marks the end of your life in middle school. Your entry into high school is a path to adulthood. You are now experiencing the loss of your childhood and your innocence, both in the eyes of your parents as well as society. Some of you have experienced loss through a death. Others have moved, changed homes, changed friends, and experienced other major events. Each of these things brings loss to your life. Loss comes in many forms and ways; it is a central element to everyone’s life.

• Write your feelings about leaving middle school and entering high school (new friends, activities, interests, relationships, surroundings, etc.).

Chapter 1Pages 3-22

Chapter 1 Vocabulary1. Hasidic2. Synagogue3. Cabbala4. Taimud5. Gestapo6. Rabbi7. Diplomacy

8. Zionism9. Facist10.Billeted11.Ghetto12.Treatise13.Anecdotes14.Deportation

Chapter 1 Focus SkillGood readers make connections with what they are reading and prior knowledge.• What background knowledge is necessary to fully understand this reading?• What background knowledge did you use to help you understand this material?• What does the author assume you already know?• How does this connect to what you already know?• How does this connect to what you learned in the last unit?• When have you heard about this before?• How can you connect what you already know with what the author is saying?• How does this connect to your personal experiences?• What do you need to recall from the past to understand..?

Chapter 1 (Pages 3-22)• Introduction•Pages 3-5•Pages 4-6•Pages 7-8•Pages 8-9•Pages 9-10

•Pages 10-11•Pages 11-12•Pages 12-14•Pages 14-16•Pages 16-17•Pages 17-20

•Pages 20-21•Pages 21-22

Chapter 1 Writing Prompts1. Describe Moshe the Beadle. Explain his relationship

with the Jews of Sighet, particularly Eliezer.2. How does deportation change Moshe? How do

others’ feelings towards him change?3. Why are the spirits among the Jews of Sighet

relatively high at the beginning of Night?4. Describe life in the Sighet ghettos.5. Explain the opportunities for escape that the

Wiesels miss before evacuation.

Chapter 2Pages 23-28

Chapter 2 Vocabulary1.Hermetically2.Pious3.Pestilential4.Abominable5.Truncheons

Chapter 2 Focus SkillGood readers ask good questions about what they are reading.• Write as many question as you have as you read this.• I wonder..?• What does this make you curious about?• What new questions does this cause you to consider?• What questions has the author not addressed?• If you were to sit down with the author/people in this article what would you like to ask?

Chapter 2 (23-28)•Pages 23-24•Pages 24-26•Pages 26-28

Chapter 2 Writing Prompts1. Describe the ghetto evacuation and journey

to Auschwitz.2. Identify the first signs of the ability of

humans to act inhuman under tremendous stress.

3. Interpret the significance of Madame Schachter’s insane warnings.


Chapter 3 Vocabulary1. Hysterical2. Incite3. Notorious4. Monocle5. Paternal6. Crematory7. Lorry8. Humanity

9. Bestial10.Lucidity11.Harangued12.Colic13.Reverie14.Base15.Messiah

Chapter 3 Focus SkillGood readers create mental images.• Describe how the pictures help you understand this reading.• Find images that might help you understand this reading.• Draw what you are reading about.• Create a mind map of the major concepts.• Create a graphic organizer…• Create a timeline of events…• Create a model…• Use a map and mark the places discussed or sites of the events.• Use the graphic organizer provided to organize the information in

this reading.

Chapter 3 (Pages 29-46) • Pages 29-31• Pages 31-33• Pages 33-34• Page 34• Pages 34-36• Pages 36-37• Pages 37-39

• Page 40• Page 41• Page 42• Pages 43-44• Pages 44-45• Pages 45-46• Page 46

Chapter 3 Writing Prompts1. Describe the first selection.2. How do Eliezer and his father survive the first selection?3. Explain the purpose of Birkenau.4. What ultimately causes the dramatic change in Eliezer’s religious

faith at Birkenau?5. Describe Eliezer’s plan if he is selected for death at Birkenau.6. Describe the prisoners’ indoctrination into concentration camp life.7. How does the drisoners’ indoctrination benefit the Nazis?8. For the most part, humanity was lost in the camps. Note acts of

kindness and signs of hope in the midst of the bestiality.


Chapter 4 Vocabulary1.Hooligan2.Bouts3.Sanctity4.Queue5.Aryan6.Refuge

7.Imperceptibly8.Gallows9.Raucous

Chapter 4 Focus SkillGood readers make inferences based on the information they are reading.• What does the author believe..?• What message does the author intend..?• What does the author mean by..?• Whose voice/s are not represented…?• Who benefits for this situation/circumstance?• Does the author have an opinion? If so, what is it?• Whose purposes does this version of history serve?

Chapter 4 (Pages 47-65)•Pages 47-48•Pages 48-50•Pages 50-51•Pages 51-52•Pages 52-53•Pages 53-54

•Pages 54-56•Pages 56-57•Pages 57-58•Pages 58-61•Pages 61-63•Pages 63-65

Chapter 4 Writing Prompts1. What is Buna? What does Eliezer do there?2. What does the hanging of the child who

looks like a sad angel symbolize for Eliezer?3. Describe the Kapos.4. What is ironic about the prisoners’ feelings

about air raids?5. Explain the prisoners’ attitudes toward

death.


Chapter 5 Vocabulary1. Lamentation2. Emaciated3. Prophecies4. Annihilate

Chapter 5 Focus SkillGood readers are able to determine the importance of various information within the text they are reading.• What are the 3 most important details in this article?• What does the author believe is important?• What are the key vocabulary terms?• What are the key themes?• What are the main points the author is making?• Why might this matter to you?• Why is this important to the world?• Why would someone consider this important enough to write about?• What will you remember about this?

Chapter 5 (Pages 66-84)•Pages 66-67•Pages 67-69•Page 69•Pages 69-71•Pages 71-72•Pages 72-73

•Pages 73-76•Pages 76-77•Pages 77-80•Pages 80-82•Pages 82-84

Chapter 5 Writing Prompts1. Describe Eliezer’s feelings as the prisoners observe the Jewish

New Year.2. How do the prisoners in Eliezer’s block survive the New Year’s

selection?3. Describe the exchange of possessions between father and

son when it appears that the elder Wiesel has been selected for death.

4. Why is Eliezer admitted to the camp hospital? What dangers face him there?

5. Discuss and evaluate Eliezer’s decision to leave the hospital early.


Chapter 6 Vocabulary1. Automatons2. Bereaved3. Encumbrance4. Semblance5. Apathy6. Appeasing7. Spectacle

Chapter 6 Focus SkillGood readers can synthesize and summarize the information they are reading.• What do you think?• Why is the author telling you this?• What is the essential message of…?• What conclusions/judgments do you make based on this reading?• Whose viewpoints aren’t represented here?• How does this help you understand the world?• What other interpretations/conclusions could be justified by the evidence

presented here?• How does the author want me to understand the past?• How does the author want me to understand this situation?• How has this changed the way you think about…?

Chapter 6 (Pages 85-97)• Pages 85-86• Pages 86-88• Pages 88-90• Pages 90-91• Pages 92-94• Pages 94-95• Pages 95-97

Chapter 6 Writing Prompts1. What keeps Eliezer going during the brutal march?2. How does the realization that the Rabbi Eliahou’s

son purposely abandoned the Rabbi affect Eliezer?3. How does Eliezer save his father from the selection

at Gleiwitz? Interpret what this reveals about Eliezer’s continued commitment to his father.


Chapter 7 Vocabulary1. Indifference2. Grimace3. Contagion

Chapter 7 Focus SkillGood readers are able to monitor their own understanding of what they are reading.• Rate your understanding of this reading.• What more do you need in order to understand the author’s

message?• Rate the author’s ability to help you understand the topics.• What percent of this made sense to me?• What skills do I need to help me understand texts such as this?• What would help me better understand this material?• What reading skills do I do well?• What reading skills do I need to work on?

Chapter 7 (Pages 98-103) •Pages 98-100•Pages 101-102•Page 102•Page 103

Chapter 7 Writing Prompt1.Describe the tragic incident between a

father and son on the train. What might this event reveal about the fragile nature of humanity?


Chapter 8 Vocabulary1. Hillock2. Plaintive3. Beseeching4. Invalids5. Spasmodically

Chapter 8 Focus SkillGood readers can summarize what they read to show understanding.• What major plot events happened?• What did the characters do/say?

Chapter 8 (Pages 104-112)•Pages 105-106•Pages 106-107•Pages 107-109•Pages 109-110•Pages 110-112

Chapter 8 Writing Prompts1. Explain why Eliezer’s father is denied

medical care at Buchenwald.2. Discuss Eliezer’s feelings of guilt as his

father dies. Do you think his feelings are rational?


Chapter 9 Vocabulary1. Idleness2. Resistance

Chapter 9 (113-115)•Pages 113-114•Pages 114-115•Page 115

Chapter 9 Writing Prompts1. Describe the events that lead up to the

liberation of Buchenwald.2. What do the liberated prisoners do first?3. Explain the irony of Eliezer’s nearly fatal

illness after liberation.4. Discuss Eliezer’s closing image of himself.

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