Night

Review

Page 3

• Moishe– Beadle – caretaker of the synagogue– No surname – no true identity, recognition as a man– “jack of all trades” (master of none): he knew a lot

about many things, but no true religious education, uneducated- Eliezer goes to him for education

– Why was he the exception to the rule regarding how the poor were treated by the majority of the Jewish community?

Continues

• Anaphora – Repetition of a word, or phrase, for emphasis– List of what he did that gave him acceptance

from the adult community.• “He stayed out of people’s way”. “His presence

bothered no one”. “He had mastered the art of rendering himself insignificant, invisible”.

– This is what the Nazi’s are counting on to destroy the Jewish people.

– IRONY: Later when Moishe returns.

Eliezer’s view of Moishe

Softness in his tone. Childlike images• Simile: “awkward as a clown” – circus• “his waiflike shyness” – child who needs protection;

orphan; sweet; no conflict.• “wide, dreamy eyes, gazing off into the distance” –

childlike imagination (this will later influence Eliezer as to the credibility of Moishe’s claims)

• “He spoke little. He sang, or rather he chanted”– Religious themes – Shekhinah in Exile; Kabbalah

• Eleiser – 13 years old; deeply observant; bar mitzvah age. Influential age

• Following all the rules and laws of his faith.

Page 4

• Influence to begin independent thoughts; mysticism of the Kabbalah. • His father wants him to be more educated. Protective father.

– “You are too young for that. Maimonides tells us that one must be thirty before venturing into the world of mysticism, a world fraught with peril. First you must study the basic subjects, those you are able to comprehend.” “There are no Kabbalists in Sighet.” “He wanted to drive the idea of studying Kabbalah from my mind.”

– A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. Important to know the basics before developing an intellectual understanding of religious practices and beliefs that may be flawed. Prevents confusion – or at least is a step in the right direction.

– (grandmother) (father – bird)• Father well respected by the community; however, no father/son

discussion when questioned. Eliezer then goes on his own quest of his faith through Moishe. Parents often make this mistake. “I am your father/mother, trust what I say without question.” This oftentimes causes rebellion. – good/bad.

• Maimonides –Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon – first to write a code of Jewish law all must follow. Mishneh Torah

Page 4 & 5• Begins to ask questions. Why? Why? Why?

– It is always good to ask questions. From that, we attain knowledge; critical thinking skills; ability to differentiate between what is truth and fallacy.

• Is challenged by Moishe. Why? Why? Why?• “Why do you cry when you pray?” Challenges his faith. Does

he do it out of rote? – mechanical repetition, without real understanding of its meaning or significance.

• Repetition of “Why did I pray? Why did I live? Why did I breathe?”

• Eliezer accepts his ignorance. Hard thing to do for anyone. We don’t like to admit that we are wrong. Then, we must admit that we are NOT PERFECT!

• Moishe knows why he prays: “I pray to the God within me for the strength to ask Him the real questions.”

Page 6

• “Moishe the Beadle was a foreigner.”• “Crammed into cattle cars.”

– Hungarian police– Influence of Germany over Hungary so far– “cried silently” - try to be insignificant; invisible, don’t

fight back….accept…accept.– Not happening to us..just the foreigners…value?– “What do you expect? That’s war..” too accepting

• USA – Japanese• Long Beach• For their safety• Paranoia

Hungary’s Part

• While anti-Jewish legislation was a common phenomenon in Hungary, the Holocaust itself did not reach Hungary until 1944.

• In March of 1944, however, the German army occupied Hungary, installing a puppet government (a regime that depends not on the support of its citizenry but on the support of a foreign government) under Nazi control.

• Adolf Eichmann, the executioner of the Final Solution, came to Hungary to oversee personally the destruction of Hungary’s Jews. The Nazis operated with remarkable speed: in the spring of 1944, the Hungarian Jewish community, the only remaining large Jewish community in continental Europe, was deported to concentration camps in Germany and Poland. Eventually, the Nazis murdered 560,000 Hungarian Jews, the overwhelming majority of the prewar Jewish population in Hungary.

Page 6• Time gives way to forgetting what happened. • Rumors – Galicia, working, content..yes. Went to

Galicia…BUT….• Weather is pleasant; back to normal

• Moishe returns– Tells them the truth– “forced to dig huge trenches…..took place in Galicia.”– Character of the German soldiers

• Jews = animals, cattle, dogs, target practice

Page 7-8

• Moishe – Joy in his eyes gone– No longer sang– No longer quiet– “Jews, listen to me! That’s all I ask of you….– “They think I’m mad,” ….tears, like drops of wax…

• Simile; candle melting; moving from the light into the darkness of Hell to come

• Christ-figure: Anaphora: “I was saved….I…I…I…only no one is listening to me…” Light of the World – warning of the evils of Satan. Do we listen? They refuse to see the light of truth. They ostracize him; reject him totally as a member of their community.

• Becomes silent.– Beaten– Eyes cast down; avoiding people’s gaze

Page 8- 1944• False hope: Germany would be defeated; only a matter

of time.• Anaphora: “The trees were in bloom. It was a year like

so many others, with its spring, its engagements, its weddings, and its births.” – A sense of normalcy. Trying to convince themselves that all is ok.

• “The Red Army….Hitler will not be able to harm us….” They refuse to see the truth. What about all the millions who have already died?

• “so many millions of people….in the middle of the 20th century?” Not possible….difficult to accept the possibility of something so evil….do we then doubt Satan’s existence?

Page 9• Fascist party takes over Hungary• They did not understand what that meant.• Begin to hear stories. Worried…for a moment.

“the Jews of Budapest live in an atmosphere of fear and terror. Anti-Semitic acts take place every day…”

• Simile – “news spread like wildfire”– Flames fast and furious…but unlike most wildfires,

this one burns out quickly..Rationalize…– No worry..won’t come to us…too far…again with

rationalizations…not us…therefore, no concern..

Page 9

• Jewish people refuse to see the signs:– German soldiers enter their town.– Officers stayed in Jewish homes. – Attitude distant but polite…wolf in sheep’s

clothing….Satan hides well…keep those rose-colored glasses on as long as possible…then, it is too late…

– “death helmets” – bringing death to all Jews

Death’s-head emblem on German helmet- SS guards

Page 10• Germans are waiting for the right moment. Keep

the Jewish people calm and unsuspecting. “Three days after he moved in, he brought Mrs. Kahn a box of chocolates…..There they are, your Germans. What do you say now? Where is their famous cruelty?” Refuse to see the reality of what is going to happen.

• “The Germans were already in our town…the Fascists…the verdict - (DEATH)…the Jews were still smiling.” – Very naive

10

• Passover – 8-day celebration– The Jews celebrated their Passover Feast in remembrance of God's deliverance from death

during the time of Moses. Origination of Passover

– Moses had been instructed to lead God's people out of Egypt and save them from the evil and ungodly Pharaoh. Because of Pharaoh's disbelief in the power of the One True God, Yahweh sent a series of ten plagues upon the Egyptians: the Nile turned to blood and at various times the land was filled with frogs, gnats, flies, hail, locusts, and darkness. In one awesome act of God's ultimate authority, He sent one final devastating plague: every firstborn of every household would be annihilated.

– In His mercy towards His people, God would shield the Israelites from such unmerciful judgment if they would follow the instructions He gave to Moses and Aaron. The specific instructions are outlined in Exodus 12:1-11. In sum, each family was to take a lamb and all households were to slaughter their lambs at the same time at twilight after a certain number of days. Then they were commanded to paint the sides and top of their doorways with some of this blood. Once this was done and all the meat of the lamb was eaten in accordance with God's instructions, God would spare the Israelites from death.

• Sighet -• Weather perfect – however, synagogues closed. Acceptance? Don’t want to cause

conflict…don’t complain. Maybe they will go away.• Celebrate during this time; but they are pretending. Deep down they are concerned,

but they don’t want to admit it. Want the celebrations to be over so they have no reason to celebrate.

10 still• 7th day – “the curtain finally rose”

– The play is about to begin…HORROR is behind the curtain.

– Arrested the leaders of the Jewish community– Gold and all valuables taken; forbidden – help

from the Hungarian police.

– Metaphor – “The race toward death had begun”

• Nazis want this done ASAP!• Moishe confronts them…

Page 11• Mom – tries to keep things together; job as

mom. Suffer in silence. Nurturer; worry about her children.

• Yellow star – BRANDED LIKE CATTLE• Reaction – no big deal; it’s just a patch; “it’s

not lethal.” IRONY – they have been marked for slaughter.

• Ghetto • Nazis are slowly killing the Jewish people’s

“being”. 1st step has been easy – to accept the painless things being done to them. Baby steps.

11-12

• Ghetto – enclosed within barbed wire. Cattle. • Comfort zone. Away from the Germans. Safe…not

really…but let’s pretend… “in fact, we felt this was not a bad thing.”

• Anaphora: “We would no longer have to look at all those hostile faces, endue those hate-filled states…No more fear….No more anguish…We would live among Jews, among brothers.” NO..NO..NO…this cannot be our reality.

• Euphemism: Nice way of saying something uncomfortable, bad, etc… “Of course, there still were unpleasant moments.” JEWS BEING TAKEN AWAY.

• Personification: “The ghetto was ruled by….delusion.”

Step 2

• Page 13• German Officers – different mood; mother feels the

change• News: Transports; “The ghetto was to be liquidated

entirely.” Irony –The Final Solution: Liquidate the Jewish people

• Now they are worried and want to know everything. Secret on threat of death.

• Page 15– Irony “Our backyard looked like a marketplace….All

this under a magnificent blue sky.” Irony – total chaos – blue(peace and tranquility)

Page 16-17

• Pain of waiting… “there was joy, yes, joy.” Irony…they think that this was hell..they have no idea of the hell they are entering.

• Imagery: juxtaposition of Blazing sunny day vs dead, empty houses (personification) = darkness within the hearts of the people- fear-despair

• Walk – “like molten lead”; “slowly, heavily, the procession advanced toward the gate of the ghetto.

Page 17-18

• “There they went, defeated, their bundles…They passed me by, like beaten dogs.”

• Juxtaposition of good vs. evil– A summer sun vs. an open tomb– Life vs death

• Personification :– “gaping doors and windows looked out into the

void.”Simile – surreal image “…like a small summer

cloud, like a dream in the first hours of dawn.”“The verdict had been delivered”….death..

Page 19

• “My mind was empty.”– “I felt little sadness.”– numb

• Father – emotion now– cries

• Mother- strong, no emotion• Hungarian police

– First oppressors– Hatred remains to this day

• Non-Jews– Ignore the reality- hide their guilt for doing nothing– Refuse to fight for their neighbors – condone ?

Page 20 - 21• Move to small ghetto

– Still have faith• “Oh god, Master of the Universe, in your infinite compassion,

have mercy on us..”– Still have hope

• “..we were beginning to get used to the situation…miserable little lives until the end of the war.”

– Verbal irony• “…a big farce…just want to steal our valuables…easier to do

when the owners are on vacation…”– Free will taken away

• “…we were all people condemned to the same fate-still unknown.”

Page 22• Change of control – irony – worse

– “It had been agreed that the Jewish Council would handle everything by itself.”

– Jews have been conditioned to go along with the program. Comfort zone to have friends organize the march toward death.

• Non-Jews– Again – no one stands up for humanity– “..behind the shutters, our friends of yesterday were probably

waiting for the moment when they could loot our homes.”• Plan has been successful

– “…cattle cars were waiting…cars were sealed…one person...in charge...someone escapes…person shot.”

– “Two Gestapo officers…all smiles; all things considered, it had gone very smoothly.”

Page 23

• Juxtaposition of beauty vs evil– “The lucky ones … could watch the blooming

countryside flit by.”• Loss of sense of modesty, humanity

– “Freed of normal constraints….let go of their inhibitions…caressed one another.”

• Human contact…love…necessary for survival of humanity.

• Metaphor – “Our eyes opened. Too late.”

• Reality of their delusions of safety. No escape from Hell.

Page 24

• Inhumanity to humanity– “…shot like dogs.”– “The world had become a hermetically sealed

cattle car.”• Air-tight• Seal off the “contamination” of the Jews• Smothering• No one from the outside can help

Page 25 - 28• Mrs. Schachter

– Irony of sanity vs insanity– Insane – sees the truth – prophetess– Sane – refuse to see the truth– “Fire! I see a fire! I see a fire!” – pity– Simile – “…she looked like a withered tree in a field of wheat.”– Fear – “…we felt the abyss opening beneath us.” (abyss-

immeasurable chasm/void; total darkness)– Like Moishe, “Jews, listen to me!...” warning; rejection– Rationalization: “She is hallucinating…thirsty…flames devouring her…”

(personification)– Cruelty breeds cruelty

• “bound and gagged her”• “…received several blows to the head that could have been lethal.”• Approval of the rest to beat her

– “Keep her quiet! Make that madwoman shut up. She’s not the only one here…”– Struck again

– “Jews, look! Look at the fire! Look at the flames!” And as the train stopped this time we saw flames rising from a tall chimney into a black sky.”

Fair and Balanced• It is important to understand that the majority of Germans were not

Nazis. • Most of the concentration camps were not in Germany; this gave the

Nazi government the ability to convince the German people that the camps that they did have were only work camps or training camps. The idea of the reality of what was happening is something so heinous, that the normal person could not comprehend the truth of what was happening to the Jewish people.

• The camps in Germany were “work camps”. Why would anyone think differently?

• March 22, 1933 - Nazis open Dachau concentration camp near Munich, to be followed by Buchenwald near Weimar in central Germany, Sachsenhausen near Berlin in northern Germany, and Ravensbrück for women. These were the “work camps.”

• This era was not a time of television, internet, cable, 24-hour news. The people only had radio and newspaper. These two media have the ability to propagandize without question.

• The most of the free world was ignorant as well. • Ex. We do not know what horrors may be happening 50 miles away

from our own homes, except for internet, 24-hour cable, the ability to move about freely and quickly.

German Jews

• At Wuerzburg, Germany, Jewish deportees carrying bundles and suitcases march through town in columns behind Nazi officials riding in an open car.

• The Jews of Wuerzburg were taken by police officials into the Platzscher Garten hotel. In one room of the hotel, their luggage was inspected by Gestapo officials and all valuables were confiscated. The luggage was then taken to a collecting area, from where it would supposedly be taken to the deportation train. However, the deportees never saw their luggage again.

• In a second room, the deportees surrendered all their personal papers showing ownership of securities and property. They were left only with their identification cards, watches and wedding rings. In the next room the deportees underwent body searches for concealed valuables. Even gold fillings were removed from their teeth. Next, their identification cards were stamped "evakuiert" [deported].

• They were then surrendered to an SS detachment until ready to leave for the railway station. To facilitate the march through the city and the boarding of the trains, the deportees were organized into groups led by Jewish ordners. The transport traveled to Nuremberg, where it was attached to a larger Judentransport departing for ghettos and concentration camps in the East, outside of Germany

TITLE “NIGHT”• Wiesel's experiences during the holocaust, one of the darkest

periods in human history, are like a journey into a night of total blackness. During his stay in the various concentration camps, Wiesel witnesses and endures the worst kind of man's inhumanity to his fellow men, as prisoners are beaten, tortured, starved, and murdered. Darkness and evil reigned.

• When Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace, he condemned the silence and apathy of those who did not cry out and condemn the criminal atrocities of Hitler and his dark forces.

• As a symbol, night does not merely represent physical darkness; it also stands for the darkness of the soul. It was obvious that the Nazis were dark and evil; but Wiesel also felt that his heart was darkened by the evil around him. In the book, he says about himself, "There remained only a shape that looked like man. A dark flame had entered into my soul and devoured it.“

• Throughout the holocaust, Wiesel was living through a long "night" of terror and torture, where he could see no light at the end of the tunnel, only perpetual darkness.

“Never…”Page 35

• Psalm 150 – final prayer; ecstatic celebration of God. Each line begins: “Hallelujah”, or “Praise God”. Wiesel gives an inverse version, with the repetition of “Never”- negative vs. affirmative.

• Psalm 150 praises God; Never – questions His justice.• Faith and morality turned upside down.• Eliezer accuses God of being corrupt.• Eliezer claims that his faith is destroyed; yet refers to

God in the last line.• Eliezer is struggling with his faith and his God.• Never able to forget the horror, he is never able to

reject completely his heritage and religion.

Psychological Moral Tragedy

• Death of faith in god• Death of faith in humankind• God fails to act justly and save the Jews

from the Nazis• Nazis drive the Jews to cruelty to each

other• Morality is upside down

Shaving of Head/TatooingPage 35 & 42

• Jewish law contains strict regulations about cutting one’s hair and facial hair. Razors are not permitted, and beards and earlocks are often considered sources of pride and commitment to tradition. Nazi used this as a means of humiliation and denigration of Jewish tradition.

• Tatooing is a strict ban by Jewish law. Nazi’s did this to dehumanize, demoralize, and strip them of their religious traditions.

Angel of Death• A prominent character in Jewish folk

tradition.• Fearsome angel who would stand at the

bedside of the sick, and using his knife, take his/her life.

• Change one’s name during extreme illness in an attempt to fool the angel; discard all water in the room after the death, because the angel supposedly washed his knife in the water.

1st Selection• Page 29

– “Men to the left! Women to the right!”– Never sees his mother and sisters again– 18 and 40– Weak vs strong

• Truth– Auschwitz/crematoria

• Revolt– “The wind of revolt died down.” Metaphor– Simile … “like cattle in the slaughterhouse– Too little too late

• Dr. Mengele– Dr. Death– Conductor of orchestra in this play of horror

• Selection of weak and strong– Useful for a time, or not

Rejection of GodPage 33

• Reality of the horror and no one is crying out to the world.

• World does not care.• God does not care.• “Why should I sanctify His name? The

Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?”

Death March

• “We continued our march….closer and closer to the pit.” (33)

• Simile: “We were walking slowly, as one follows a hearse, our own funeral procession.”

• Still faith, angry, but: “May His name be exalted and sanctified..”

“Never…”page 34

• Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.Never shall I forget that smoke.Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith for ever.Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself.Never.

Disinfection

• Page 36• Gasoline – completely soaked in it• “fuel” – fire• Exterminate bugs• Showers – get used to this for a purpose

later

Imagery

• Page 37– “The student of Talmud, the child I was, had

been consumed by the flames.”– “My soul had been invaded – and devoured –

by a black flame.” (evil of Hell)– “We were withered trees in the heart of the

desert.” (metaphor) (nothing lives) Living dead– “herded” – continual image of cattle

Reality

• Page 39• “Work or crematorium…the choice is

yours.”• Gypsy – chance to be cruel to someone• Father beaten – son does nothing

– Guilt– Forgiven by father

Irony

• Page 41– “It was spring. The sun was shining.”– “Warning of Death”– “The fragrances of spring were in the air”– “Work makes you free.”– “These were the showers, a compulsory

routine.”

Page 42-45

• Spoiled child• Branding• Lied to protect relative from pain• Humanity does not get reward• “God is testing us.”• March to Buna

Buna• Shoes• Gold tooth – trip to the dentist; pretends to be ill;

dentist hanged• “you…you…you” choosing cattle at a marketplace• Juliek – violinist – beauty of music – illegal• SURVIVAL – p 52 = “a famished stomach” loss of

humanity• Idek – Kapo; mad; cruel – p 54 his father = simile =

angry at his father (upside down morality – break down of humanity )

• Franek –Pole - greedy- Father is the way to the tooth.• Idek = publicly whips Elie into unconsiousness

Page 59

• “Two cauldrons of soup!”• Desire overcomes fear of death• Irony = shepherd – ss• Soup – lambs – wolves = inmates• Irony = inmate “snakelike”

Page 61

• Gallows– Young boy from Warsaw– Stands in defiance

• Lack of humanity• “I’m hungry”• Appreciation for food• Page 63 – different • Metaphor – p. 64 “…three black ravens”

– Pipel = hated; not this one; angelic– To hang a child was a problem (ironic)– Page 65 = “where is God?” – Food tastes like corpses

Loss of Faith through the hanging of the Pipel

• God has been murdered• A just God must not exist in a world where

a young child is hanged.• Lowest point of Elie’s faith• Death of his innocence with death of the

child• Loses his faith, morals, values• Fear – lose connection with his father in

order to survive (p.63)

Elie as the Accuser

• P. 66 – 67• “What are You, my God?...• Benediction…• Anaphora …cynical• “the melody was stifled in his throat.” difficulty

keeping the faith• Accuser vs accused• Anaphora – “You..” God is the betrayer

– Powerful; stranger; observer; no longer believed

Yom Kippur

• Fast?• Metaphor – “locked in hell”• Open defiance of God’s laws

– Falls into the abyss of despair

Selection

• Rosh Hashanah– Pass before God for judgment– Irony

• Nazis = God• They decide who lives and who dies• RUN!!! Do not show weakness

Pavlov’s Theory

• Page 73• “The bell….The bell….a universe without a bell.”• Selection – father gives him his knife and spoon.• Page 76-77: Akiba Drumer – lost his faith, will to

fight, to live; no hope=total despair= death of the soul

• Forgot to say Kaddish = loss of faith = betrayal of humankind

Hospital Stay• Pages 78-80• Must have surgery on his foot.• Trust in the Doctor? – German – Hyppocratic Oath • Red Army is advancing• All patients will remain in the hospital.• Inmates will be evacuated to another camp.• Metaphor: “beehive of activity”• “I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He

alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.”

Irony

• “faceless patient”– No chance of survival– Bomb the camp– Kill all of us– Eliezer chooses to leave in pain– They were saved by the Red Army (page 82)

Leaving Bunapage 83

• Anaphora:• “The last night…the last night…the last

night…”• Hope still alive: Russians on their way…

soon• Imagery: “Poor clowns…”• Death march: “…the bell…death knell…

funeral…”

Inner Strength…still

• “..we were running…like automatons…like a machine.”

• Wiesel’s faith: saw too much suffering to break from his past and reject his heritage. He kept his faith in God throughout.

• Elie’s faith: struggled, but although he rejects God, he never totally rejected his faith.

Personification of Death

• Page 86• “just a few more meters…..a small red

flame..a shot…Death enveloped me, it suffocated me….”

• Love for his father keeps him alive and strong to continue. “I had no right to let myself die.”

Master vs God• Page 87-89• “We were the masters of nature, the masters

of the world….”• God is no longer the Master of the world…

the prisoners are now the masters…godless worldview…survival is the only goal..morality is meaningless.

• Personification of Death• “All around me…dance of death…something

in me rebelled against that death…”

Father/Son Relationship

Rabbi Eliahu and his son – page 91Elie and his father – page 91

Although angry with God, still prays…calls God “Master of the Universe.”

Death So Close• Page 94-95

– Almost trampled– Juliek – violin “little corpse”– Page 96-97

• Imagery: eating snow off each other’s backs• 100 men to a car…so skinny

– Page 98-99• “cemetery covered with snow”• Lack of humanity – strip dead bodies for clothes• Father • “naked orphans without a tomb”

Animals in the Zoo

• Page 100-101• “dozens of starving men … worker

watched with great interest…”• Modern society … coins tossed to the poor• “Beasts of prey….ready to kill for a crust of

bread.”• Father and son kill for a crust of bread

Buchenwald

• 100 began…12 came out– Death personified through argument with

father. Page 105• Guilt- page 106-107

– Relief when father is gone– Shares his bread grudgingly– Father begins to die; dysentery– Page 112- January 28, 1945; father dies– “Free at last” – should he feel guilty?

Page 113-115

• Liberation– Liquidation of inmates– Thousands marched out daily– SS escape– American tank enters April 10, 1945– “From the depths of the mirror…the look inhis

eyes…has never left me.”

MAN’S INHUMANITY TO MAN

• Deportations begin. The Jews are herded into cattle cars and sent to concentration camps, where they are forced to do hard labor, are beaten and tortured, are denied food and water, and are often killed by burning, hanging, shooting, starving, freezing, or beating. Even the babies and small children are thrown into pits of fire since they serve no purpose to the Nazis.

• Because of the torture they must witness and endure, the prisoners become animalistic. When they are made to march, if a fellow prisoner falls, he is often trampled to death. When food is thrown at them, the prisoners kill each other to gain a bite of bread. In their search for survival, sons turn against their fathers; even Elie has fleeting thoughts of being rid of Mr. Wiesel.

• Through most of the book, however, Elie tries to help his father, who is repeatedly tortured. He shows him how to march properly so he will not be persecuted by the Nazi guards; he nurses him after he is beaten by a guard; he saves him from being thrown off the train as a corpse; he gets him up and to Buchenwald after he falls amongst the corpses; and he takes care of him after his skull is cracked for pleading for water. In the end, Mr. Wiesel is taken to the crematorium and thrown into the fire, probably while he is still breathing.

Eternal Flame

• All Jewish temples have a light that is always on. It references the Eternal Flame that was kept burning in the First Temple. Represents the eternal watchfulness and providence of God over His people.

• Night – flame and fire represent Nazi power and cruelty. Reflects Eliezer’s loss of faith. Symbolizes the evil in the world rather than God’s benevolence.