Night Discussion Questions

Elizabeth Klein

Chapter 1

Why does Moishe come back to tell his story? How does the townspeoples reaction
contribute to the meaning of the text?

Moishe came back to tell the Jews of Sighet what had happened to him because he wanted to
prepare them. On page 7, Moishe answers Elies question inquiring why Moishe cares so much
about people believing his story of death and horror. Moishe says, I wanted to return to Sighet
to describe to you my death so that you might ready yourselves while there is still time. Despite
his motives, the people do not believe him. But people not only refused to believe his tales,
they refused to listen. Some even insinuated that he only wanted their pity...that he had gone
mad (7). The Jews of Sighet react this way because they dont want to believe him. Whether
they think his story is the truth or not, they ignore it because to listen to him is to acknowledge a
fact too horrible to bear. To save themselves the trouble of worrying about it, the Jews neglect
Moishes story. Throughout the entire text, this is a recurring theme. The Jews constantly
ignore the warnings of people who foresee their death; it happened with Maria and her safe
shelter, when Elie warns his father to leave on page 9, and with Mrs. Schachter on the train.
The Jews would rather live in ignorance than accept such a heavy truth.

Explain the meaning of the following statement: The ghetto was ruled by neither
German nor Jew; it was ruled by delusion (12). (SPEPES)

This statement means that the only thing that had any real hold over the ghetto was fear. Fear
is an extremely powerful emotion. The Jews ignore the bad news they are given multiple times
throughout the story because of it. It kept them from listening to Mrs. Schachter, from finding
safe shelters, and from believing Moishes story. In the ghetto, the Jews delusions keep them
from seeing the truth. On page 12, Elie says, Most people thought that we would remain in the
ghetto until the end of the war.Afterward everything would be as before. The Jews are so
driven by fear that they refuse, even while living in a German ghetto, that life is going to change.
Earlier on that same page, the Jews actually express excitement about living in the ghetto. A
Jewish Council was appointed...a whole governmental apparatus. People thought this was a
good thing (12). This shows that the Jews are so scared that they are willing to buy into false
hopes to avoid the fear. Whether the ghetto was German-run, whether it was Jew-run--the
people in it were only governed by that single emotion.

Chapters 2-3

How do Mrs. Schachters cries and the people on the trains reaction to her impact the
meaning of the text?
Mrs. Schachters cries and the people on the trains reaction to her are the beginning of the
standard of behavior for the Holocaust victims. On page 26, after trying unsuccessfully to calm
her down, the train riders reach their breaking point. Once again the young men bound and
gagged her. When they actually struck her, people shouted their approval (26). This shows
that not only did the train riders choose not to stick up for their neighbor when she was being
mistreated, but they actually encouraged it. This action sets the tone for the attitude of the
prisoners throughout the duration of the book. When the prisoners are being transported on
page 101, the Germans throw bread into the wagon. Elie comments, Men were hurling
themselves against each other, trampling, tearing at and mauling each other. Beasts of prey
unleashed, animal hate in their eyes. Later, on page 109, prisoners beat Elies father for being
too sick to leave to the bathroom. His father says, Him, the Frenchman...and the Pole...They
beat me. The prisoners of the Holocaust had their morality taken away from them by their
situation. This pattern of behavior was first introduced with Mrs. Schachter on the train, but
continues throughout the book. Mrs. Schachter influenced the text by allowing the reader to see
the first glimpse of horror that was to come for the prisoners.

How has Elies life changed since his arrival at Birkenau? Give specific examples from
the chapter. (SPEPES)

Elies life changed drastically during his time at Birkenau. On page 29, the SS officers split up
the women and men. In this separation, Elie loses his mother and sisters. I didnt know that
this was the moment in time and the place where I was leaving my mother and Tzipora forever.
Just a few pages later, he realizes the slaughter that takes place at Birkenau. Over there, a
man says, pointing to the smoke rising out of a chimney, Thats where they will take you. Over
there will be your grave. This is Elies first true encounter with death, and it immediately
changes his life forever. Just a few pages later, he watches as children are thrown into a
burning ditch. Is it any wonder, Elie asks the reader, that ever since then, sleep tends to
elude me? (32). After that, Elie discusses the future with his father. The man tells him that the
world will not save them, and Elie decides, If that is true, then I dont want to wait. Ill run into
the electrified barbed wire. That would be easier than a slow death in the flames (33). He was
only 15 at the time. Many more events take place at Birkenau; Elie is beaten, herded,
commanded, starved, dehumanized. His life in Sighet consisted of study and prayer, but in
Birkenau, he is reduced to nothing. He is permanently traumatized; he faces death every day,
he loses his family, and he witnesses unspeakable atrocities. The camp made it so that his life
would never be the same, so that he would always live with that horror.

Chapter 4

Eliezers father is beaten with an iron bar (p. 54). Eliezer concludes this scene with the
following judgement: That is what concentration camp life had made of me. What does
he mean?
When Elie says this, he refers the the fact that he did nothing to assist his father while he was
being beaten. In fact, he contemplates whether he should run away to avoid being hit as well,
and feels anger toward his father for not better evading the blows. He says this last sentence to
reflect on how concentration camp life had changed him; he no longer thought of the injustice
being delivered, but how to avoid and escape it. He put that above all else, even consideration
for his father. Hed seen so much death and horror within the camps that all thoughts of
morality went out the window; it was no longer a matter of right and wrong but of avoidance and
survival. Concentration camp took that from Elie, and made him into a person he later would
not recognize.

What events lead to each of the two hangings Elie describes? How does Elies tone after
each hanging contribute to his characterization?

The hangings were brought on by events that occurred during the air raid earlier in the chapter.
The first boy from Warsaw was accused of stealing during the air raid, and was hanged for
doing so. After the hanging, Elie says, I remember that on that evening, the soup tasted better
than ever (63). This relieved tone reveals that Elie is not immune to the effects of the
Holocaust. Often with stories told from the first-person perspective, the author and reader tend
to glorify the main character and see them as a hero-type. However, the main character in this
book is the author. Elie endured something horrific and utterly inhumane, and this chapter
reminds the reader of that. Elie may be good person, but during the Holocaust, all prisoners
saw a decrease in their humanity. This tone establishes Elie as not some great hero, but as a
prisoner just like everyone else in Birkenau. The second hanging is of a boy connected to a
sabotage through an Oberkapo. Eli says the boy was the face of an angel in distress (63).
After he is hanged, Elie says, That night, the soup tasted of corpses (65). The placement of
this hanging directly after that of the boy from Warsaw shows that while Elie may have lost part
of his humanity, he did not lose it all. He was genuinely disgusted to see a small child hang
from the gallows. This serves to prove that Elie is not a villain for being alright with the first
hanging, but rather that the Holocaust completely altered his sense of morality.

Chapter 5

Describe Elies changing views on faith and God. Compare him at the beginning of the
book to now. (SPEPES)

66
At the beginning of the book, Elie is deeply religious. On page 3, he says, I was almost thirteen
and deeply observant. By day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to
weep over the destruction of the Temple. Moishe the Beadle reveals on page 4 that Elie cried
when he prayed, and on 5, that the two often spent their evenings in the synagogue talking
about religion. However, by chapter 5, Elies religious beliefs are in tatters. After seeing all he
saw, he struggled with being able to worship a god that could let the Holocaust happen. During
Rosh Hashanah, Elie questions why he should pray to such a god. Why, but why would I bless
Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in HIs
mass graves? Because...in His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so
many other factories of death? How could I say to Him: Blessed be Thou, Almighty, Master of
the Universe, who chose us among all nations to be tortured...chosen us to be slaughtered on
Thine altar? (67). Elie later claims that man is stronger than God, something his thirteen year
old self might have been horrified to hear him say. Though Rosh Hashanah had always
dominated [his] life, Elie lets go of his devotion. On Yom Kippur, he decided not to fast,
saying, I turned that act into a symbol of rebellion, a protest against Him (69). Before the
Holocaust, Elie was a devout Jew. He spent all his time in prayer. But after, he cannot accept a
god that would let his worshippers burn, starve, suffer, and die.

Chapter 6

Responsibly infer Julieks motives (plural) behind his final concert. (SPEPES)

Juliek performed his final concert as both a rebellion and a celebration. On page 49, when Elie
meets Juliek, it is revealed that Jews were not allowed to play German music. The reasoning
for this is likely that the Germans did not want Jews, who they considered less-than-human, to
play music by their composers. However, Julieks last violin performance was a piece by
Beethoven, a German composer. Elie says on page 95, He was playing a fragment of a
Beethoven concerto. Juliek, who was near death and freezing, likely used that piece to convey
his emotions in the best way he knew how. In some of the hangings throughout Night, the
victims would shout phrases like, Long live liberty! to show their resistance from the Germans.
Juliek was not allowed to play the song he chose for his last concert, but he did it anyway. This
suggests that he did so as an act of rebellion against the Germans. His final concert might also
have been a celebration of his life as a musician; Julieks music meant everything to him. On
page 94, while being crushed under a pile of people, Juliek frantically says to Elie, Im
afraid...Theyll break...my violin...I brought it with me. Even while facing death Juliek only cared
about his instrument. To play it one last time before dying was Julieks celebration of music, his
violin, and his art. Juliek died that next day, but his final concert stands for his defiance against
his oppressors and his passion to his craft.

Chapters 7-9

Elie says, Just like Rabbi Eliahus son, I had not passed the test (107). Do you agree or
disagree? Why? (SPEPES)

I disagree with that statement. Elie did not fail his father like Rabbi Eliahus son. In fact, he was
excellent to his father in spite of their circumstance. From the moment the book starts to before
the death of his father, Elie does many things to look out for the two and keep them together.
On page 81 while nursing a serious foot injury, Elie says, I was thinking not about death but
about not wanting to be separated from my father. In the midst of all the pain Elie was
experiencing, he worried only about his father. Later, on page 99, Elie saves his dying father
from the gravediggers by waking him up before they can take him away. Even on page 107,
the context of this quote was that Elie wanted to eat his soup but gave it to his sick father
nonetheless. Elie did not fail his father, all he ever did was think of him and try and keep alive.
Even when he thought he was failing, he was helping his father. Rabbi Eliahus son may have
given up on his father to free himself from that burden, and though Elie may have wanted to, he
did not.

When Elie thinks, Free at last (112) after his fathers death, is he referring to himself or
his father? Explain.

Elie is referring to his father. If he had not had such an important relationship with his father,
then he may have felt relieved by his fathers death. After all, he would not have had to share
his meals, look after both him and himself, or strain to keep him alive. However, after going
through everything that they did together, Elie is genuinely sad when that his father dies. On
page 112, he says, I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of
tears. This shows that Elie wouldve cried over his fathers death if he had not cried over so
many other deaths and tragedies during the Holocaust. He then says, And deep inside me, if I
could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like:
Free at last!... While this statement may seem like Elie is talking about his freedom from the
labors of taking care of his father, he actually says it to refer to his fathers freedom from the
concentration camps. When Elie talks about his feeble conscience, he does not do it to
insinuate that his morality was corrupted enough by the Holocaust that he would be happy over
his fathers death. He says it to imply that despite the fact that the Holocaust stole a lot of his
morality, he can still find it within himself to feel sorry for his father. This is exemplified in Elies
use of the word And at the beginning of that sentence. Instead of using a contrasting
conjunction, he uses an expanding one. If he had used the word but, it wouldve suggested
that even though Elie was sad about not being able to cry for his father, he still felt somewhat
happy to lose that burden. But Elie uses and instead, which suggests that Elie was upset that
he couldnt cry for his father, and found it in his soul to be glad that one of them finally gained
their freedom.