Night Novel Review

What can be inferred about the views of homelessness from the general public based on the description provided by Wiesel about Moishe the Beadle in Chapter 1 (page 3)?

• The general public did not come into contact with homeless people. They were able to easily avoid destitute people.

• The general public hated homeless people; they continually ridiculed them and regarded them as less than human.

• The general public felt, overall, indifferent towards homeless people. They, at times, felt obligated to help them, but in no way felt a desire to actually respect them.

• The general public felt a great deal of pressure to help and support all homeless people. They usually went out of their way to do what they could to provide assistance to all destitute people.

What is the significance of the line, “Without passion or haste, they shot their prisoners, who were forced to approach the trench one by one and offer their necks. Infants were tossed into the air and used as targets for the machine guns” in Chapter 1 (page 6)?

• This quote shows how the Nazis viewed anyone of Jewish descent as sub-par, and less than human, which allowed them to easily treat them as objects.

• This quote shows how evil the Nazis were, and how they found extreme amounts of joy in murdering innocent humans.

• This quote shows how many of the Nazis didn’t actually want to harm innocent people, but they were ordered to do so by a higher authority.

• This quote shows how Nazis differentiated their torture and murder between adults, children, and infants when they were assigned to kill a specific community of people.

Which of the following quotes from Chapter 2 (pages 23 – 28) best describes the conditions of the deportation cattle cars?

• “Dusk began to fill the wagon. We ate what was left of our food.”

• “I started to breathe normally again as I listened to the rhythmic pounding of the wheels on the tracks…”

• “…they could watch the blooming countryside flit by.”

• "The heat, the thirst, the stench, the lack of air, were suffocating us.”

What can be inferred by the following line in Chapter 3 (page 29), “Mother was stroking my sister’s blonde hair, as if to protect her. And I walked on with my father, with the men. I didn’t know that this was the moment in time and the place where I was leaving my mother and Tzipora forever?”

• Elie’s little sister was deemed too young to be a useful worker, and because Elie’s mother wouldn’t leave her side, they were both sent to the gas chambers upon arrival at Auschwitz.

• Elie’s mother and little sister were most likely sent to a female concentration camp, where the brutal working conditions and lack of survival necessities led to their death.

• Elie truly believed he would never see his mother or little sister again due to the tragic circumstances and hell-like state they had been experiencing; however, they were to be reunited after liberation.

• Elie’s mother most likely fought off guards for as long as she could in order to continue to protect Tzipora from death.

What is implied by the following line in Chapter 3 (page 30), “You didn’t know? In 1944? True we didn’t know. Nobody had told us. He couldn’t believe his ears. His tone became even harsher?”

• The atrocities that were occurring in the concentration camps were well hidden from the Jewish community and from those that would be willing to help.

• By 1944, the majority of the world knew what was happening, and the prisoners who were just arriving at the camps were behaving recklessly to allow their deportation to happen.

• Concentration camp prisoners were regularly told that liberating armies would be arriving soon to help them, so they did not understand why more prisoners were arriving and not Russian or American soldiers.

• Concentration camp prisoners quickly become mean and violent upon living in deplorable and abusive conditions, so they are quick to ridicule and insult any new prisoners.

What was the primary purpose of the line, “He had mastered the art of rendering himself insignificant, invisible,” in Chapter 1 (page 3)?

• It foreshadows the Jews’ of Sighet willingness to listen to a kindhearted man’s advice on religion and wartime affairs.

• It provides a detailed description of a main character and his impact he will have on Elie as the war progresses throughout the novel.

• It provides a detailed description of a minor character and his impact he will have on the community with his preemptive warnings.

• It foreshadows the Jews’ of Sighet unwillingness to listen to Moishe the Beadle’s warning of what will happen to them if they do not try to leave the area.

In which line does Wiesel infer that the prisoners of the camps did not realize how well the Nazis hid the horrors of the camps from the world?

• “The Hungarian police made us climb into the cars, eighty persons in each one. They handed us some bread, a few pails of water.”

• “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.”

• “Shut up, you moron, or I’ll tear you to pieces! You should have hanged yourselves rather than come here. Didn’t you know what was in store for you here in Auschwitz? You didn’t know? In 1944?”

• “We had already been in Auschwitz for eight days. It was after roll call. We stood waiting for the bell announcing its end.”

Which line from the text best supports the idea that lying to a loved one can be more beneficial than harmful?

• “But seeing that his advice had come too late, and that was nothing left of my ration, he didn’t even start his own. ‘Me. I’m not hungry,’ he said.”

• “‘Your profession?’ Tell him that I was a student? ‘Farmer,’ I heard myself saying. This conversation lasted no more than a few seconds. It seemed like an eternity.”

• “‘Poor devils, you are heading for the crematorium.’ He seemed to be telling the truth. Not far from us, flames, huge flames, were rising from a ditch.”

• “‘As far as I’m concerned, this whole business of deportation is nothing but a big farce. Don’t laugh. They just want to steal our valuables and jewelry.”

Based on the dialogue and imagery used in the passage from Chapter 2 (pages 24 - 28), what can we infer about Madame Schäcter?

• She had to be beaten because she was continuously disturbing the other passengers in the cattle car.

• She had been placed on the cattle car by someone trying to warn the Jews of what was to happen.

• Upon being so close to death, she had been able to develop an accurate prophecy.

• She had lost her mind upon being separated from her family.

Which of the following lines does not reveal something about the specific cultural background of Elie Wiesel?

• “He liked my shoes. I would not let him have them. Later, they were taken from me anyways. In exchange for nothing, that time.”

• “And in spite of myself, a prayer formed inside me, a prayer to this God in whom I no longer believed. ‘Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done.”

• “Yom Kippur. The day of Atonement. Should we fast? The question was hotly debated. To fast could me a more certain, more rapid death. In this place, we were always fasting. It was Yom Kippur year round.”

• “In days gone by, Rosh Hashanah had dominated my life. I knew that my sins grieved the Almighty and so I pleaded for forgiveness.”