Night Elie 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 Information Night
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 1 Pages 3-22
Chapter 1 Vocabulary Hasidic Zionism Synagogue Facist Cabbala Billeted Taimud Ghetto Gestapo Treatise Rabbi Anecdotes Diplomacy Deportation
Chapter 1 Focus Skill Good 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 10-11 Pages 20-21 Pages 3-5
Chapter 1 Writing Prompts Describe Moshe the Beadle. Explain his relationship with the Jews of Sighet, particularly Eliezer. How does deportation change Moshe? How do others’ feelings towards him change? Why are the spirits among the Jews of Sighet relatively high at the beginning of Night? Describe life in the Sighet ghettos. Explain the opportunities for escape that the Wiesels miss before evacuation.
Chapter 2 Pages 23-28
Chapter 2 Vocabulary Hermetically Pious Pestilential Abominable Truncheons
Chapter 2 Focus Skill Good 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 Prompts Describe the ghetto evacuation and journey to Auschwitz. Identify the first signs of the ability of humans to act inhuman under tremendous stress. Interpret the significance of Madame Schachter’s insane warnings.
Chapter 3 Pages 29-46
Chapter 3 Vocabulary Hysterical Bestial Incite Lucidity Notorious Harangued Monocle Colic Paternal Reverie Crematory Base Lorry Messiah Humanity
Chapter 3 Focus Skill Good 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 Page 41 Pages 31-33 Page 42
Chapter 3 Writing Prompts Describe the first selection. How do Eliezer and his father survive the first selection? Explain the purpose of Birkenau. What ultimately causes the dramatic change in Eliezer’s religious faith at Birkenau? Describe Eliezer’s plan if he is selected for death at Birkenau. Describe the prisoners’ indoctrination into concentration camp life. How does the drisoners’ indoctrination benefit the Nazis? 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 Pages 47-65
Chapter 4 Vocabulary Hooligan Imperceptibly Bouts Gallows Sanctity Raucous Queue Aryan Refuge
Chapter 4 Focus Skill Good 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 54-56 Pages 48-50
Chapter 4 Writing Prompts What is Buna? What does Eliezer do there? What does the hanging of the child who looks like a sad angel symbolize for Eliezer? Describe the Kapos. What is ironic about the prisoners’ feelings about air raids? Explain the prisoners’ attitudes toward death.
Chapter 5 Pages 66-84
Chapter 5 Vocabulary Lamentation Emaciated Prophecies Annihilate
Chapter 5 Focus Skill Good 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 73-76 Pages 67-69
Chapter 5 Writing Prompts Describe Eliezer’s feelings as the prisoners observe the Jewish New Year. How do the prisoners in Eliezer’s block survive the New Year’s selection? Describe the exchange of possessions between father and son when it appears that the elder Wiesel has been selected for death. Why is Eliezer admitted to the camp hospital? What dangers face him there? Discuss and evaluate Eliezer’s decision to leave the hospital early.
Chapter 6 Pages 85-97
Chapter 6 Vocabulary Automatons Bereaved Encumbrance Semblance Apathy Appeasing Spectacle
Chapter 6 Focus Skill Good 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
Chapter 6 Writing Prompts What keeps Eliezer going during the brutal march? How does the realization that the Rabbi Eliahou’s son purposely abandoned the Rabbi affect Eliezer? 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 Pages 98-103
Chapter 7 Vocabulary Indifference Grimace Contagion
Chapter 7 Focus Skill Good 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 Prompt 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 Pages 104-112
Chapter 8 Vocabulary Hillock Plaintive Beseeching Invalids Spasmodically
Chapter 8 Focus Skill Good 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 Prompts Explain why Eliezer’s father is denied medical care at Buchenwald. Discuss Eliezer’s feelings of guilt as his father dies. Do you think his feelings are rational?
Chapter 9 Pages 113-115
Chapter 9 Vocabulary Idleness Resistance
Chapter 9 (113-115) Pages 113-114 Pages 114-115 Page 115
Chapter 9 Writing Prompts Describe the events that lead up to the liberation of Buchenwald. What do the liberated prisoners do first? Explain the irony of Eliezer’s nearly fatal illness after liberation. Discuss Eliezer’s closing image of himself.