Night q's 1-12 and Journal

Q's 1-12

Q1: Wiesel’s childhood town was Sighet in Transylvania.





Q2: The cabala is known as the Jewish religious beliefs. It speaks deeper meaning of God’s purpose of man. The cabala literally means “receiving” in a tradition way.

Q3: Mosche was Elie’s insight into the real world he lived in. Insight which blinded him of the wars, and of his countries leaders. Truths that were going to change his life dramatically. Elie being of youth wasn’t aware of the capabilities of his country and the enemies who lived beside them.

Q4: Mosche the Beadle was the first source of learning for Elie to finally learn of the cabala and its ways. Even though such insight of the world had not been allowed to him.

Q5: After Mosche the Beatle returns from his escape, no one cared to believe him. They all knew his mind was making up cruel things. The more he spoke of such stories the less everyone cared for him. With time everyone learned to ignore him. Mosche the Beadle could now only accept the evil, which was soon to come.

Q6: Madame Schachter was a woman who had been separated from her husband and older son. With only one son by her side, along with her whole world falling to her feet, her mind also began to fall. With time, the unbearable heat and lack of water had driven her crazy inside the small wagon. In all her screams of horrifying emotions, everyone in the wagon had now thought of her as a major disturbance. She had knowledge of what was in store for everyone. As well as Mosche the Beatle who saw the evil rising. Both of their warnings were so crazy and impossible to believe to others, that their words were only silenced.

Q7: Elie speaks of the evil of what was happening to be of cruel importance. Those moments of pain were to stay with him, even if his God asked to be heard. The importance of what was really happening to his family, would have already changed his whole life and his view towards his God. His religion that he had studied for years was nowhere to be seen. Letting the horrid memories lead him.

Q8: The context of this passage was to inform the world of his experience, being a survivor from the holocaust. To make his presence known through words, while having had been apart of one of the most major tragedies in history. Elie had changed because he was now aware of the capabilities of his country, and the importance of being Jewish. Within the story Elie learns new and better tactics for living, taking no as an answer and fighting for what he knew was right.

Q9: Elie’s belief and disbelief of God through out his experience kept changing. Every obstacle he had to surpass had challenged his faith in god. Elie seeing hell on earth made him believe in no God, but in only himself. All the obstacles he had to pass had become almost a challenge to him. A simple prayer would not have done any good for him any longer. He could not believe the God he believed in for so many years was letting his whole world fall apart. He could not believe any “God” would let such pain be caused in such ways to his people. When he was not angry with god he knew what he was doing, and that men should not question his word and his power in vain.

Q10: Elie might have chosen the title from the time of day that his life had forever changed. The night being when the most tragic moments Elie lived. His last memory of his mother and his sister, his whole family together for the last time might have been during the night. When one thinks of the night, the first thing that interferes is not being able to see, everything being so unsure and hidden from you. Maybe that is what Elie felt through out his dark years of pain. All he could do was try his best to see through all the evil that blinded everyone and find his way though the bit of light that he found at times.

Q11: I think Night is such a slim book because of all it has happening during the holocaust. Elie chose to write about the experience of those who had lived through it. To write about the horrible deaths of millions of people, almost like being their eyes and ears. Most people would have written hundreds of pages, but Wiesel felt that those moments of his life had expressed had the power to describe it all. It being the reason for his life to have been so dramatically changed, along with many others.

Q12: Night can certainly be a memoir of both triumph and tragedy. Each line, each word passing both negative and positive effects in the future. Many people might see the book as a tragic memory because of all the innocent lives that had been so cruelly taken away. The holocaust being Hitler’s most evil rule, created greater hate towards the man. In the other hand, Night could have also been one of the many inspirational books one has every read. Reading such triumph coming from a young boy with almost no hope left in him. Doing the impossible, fighting for his family to the end. Something many could not have even thought of doing in his place. Making Elie W. a grand hero who surpassed such tragedy and lived to tell about it.

Journals

(Jan. 7 07')

pages 1-10

Mosche the Beadle was a very fond character in a small town of Sighet in Transylvania. Elie had gotten to know him when he was twelve in 1941. He believed very much in the Talmud and in the temple. His religion would only require older men to study the cabala; a rule Elie despised. As for one night Mosche the Beadle found Elie praying while crying. He questioned him of his actions and that was where their first conversations towards the learning of the cabala had begun. For months Mosche the Beadle taught Elie, but as for one day he was expelled from Sighet for being a foreigner. Escaping he returned to his small town having many stories to tell. Stories in which many did not believe in. As Mosche the Beadle gave up all hope of saving them, he also lost part of himself. Never being the same person, from such horrid memories haunting him. Cruelty that he knew was bound to happen sooner or later.

11-20

As the whole family nervously awaited their father, only questions passed their minds. As their father came back from such long of a meeting, his facial expression could not hide his fear. Soon enough they all knew there was going to be a deportation through the whole town. Not knowing where to, was what caused everyone more fright. Their journey would only allow them to take food and clothing. As Elie’s family’s day came to march to the unknown place, the heat and the loss of strength had all crying out loud. Even Elie’s father wept beside his mother. His mother carrying his little sister who was suffering herself with tremendous weight. All ready he could see no good ahead. Elie W. mentions fire dying out, and there being nothing in the sky but dead stars. The stars would be the number of people who were going to die, who were going to lose their fire. Here, everyone became as one. Having the same fate, which no one knew of.

21-30

A group of people were put into a wagon. For many days the only way to sleep was by reclining on each other. The heat and the lack of water had worsened everyone’s conditions. As the wagon stopped, the German officers counted eighty people, took all of their valuables and threatened them if any were missing. Within some days a woman named Madame Schachter had gone insane for she had been separated from her family. As days passed by Madame Schachter screamed out “fire, fire”!, but no one would see any fire. Maybe she was the only one who saw evil coming. She may have been seeing the fire that would soon to burry them all. The wagon soon stopped in Auschwitz. There was a concentration camp where they would all work in fields and factories as they had said. As all eighty people were beign separated again, Elie realized he was parting from his mother ad sister. As he writes he mentions himself not knowing that that moment in his memory was his last of his mothers and sisters presence. Hearing for the first time they were all going to be burned, killed, Elie’s mind had only wished it was a nightmare.



31-40

As he and his father walk, he asks him if he could commit suicide rather than burn to death. His father was silent. Then the line of people walked to what they knew was going to be their cemetery, chanted in prayer. As Elie heard this, he began to wonder why should anyone pray for a lord who was clearly invisible. Who was letting innocence die. In that moment he feels he has to do something. Elie now writes that those moments he had seen had become his life. Which still carries with him as clear as daylight. His whole life wasted by those flames that tortured all. As all the men were forced to drop all their clothes and what seems to be watered down, new clothes were given to them. At that moment Elie realized his father had now changed into someone else. His innocent as a child was vanished, no where to be found. Even as his father had gotten struck by the guards, his actions were so distant. Amazed and ashamed of himself, he could not believe how much this living nightmare had transformed him. He says the word goodnight is of human words because it to have been used that day, things wouldn’t have matched. In the camp they were given numbers, now known as their names.

41-50

Even as all the men knew they were in hell, they kept some hope inside them. Praying and chanting together when possible. Elie had now doubted of God. Wondering if there was even a god, “where has he shown himself”?, he asked. All hopes for ones families to be alive were made up of lies they had to tell themselves. Saying they were all alive and well. As the men were again being transported, they arrived in Buna. Where they later found out it was the better of camps. As they later formed lines of five to again be taken into duty, drums played music to keep the pace of the men. But not even the Jews were allowed to play German music. His work in the comp was not hard at all, for that he was thankful of. For his lies to the dentist, he spared enough time until the dentist himself was killed. He was almost glad of it. Now he could save his gold crown to buy something in the future.

51-60

Elie mentions a woman he had met in 1944 at the camp. Who had helped him, her kind words helped the most. Elie loved his father and hated each time he would get beaten for not marching or doing something correctly. So he decided to teach his father to march. As everyone seeing laughed, he did not care, for it was helping his father. He would have done anything for his father not to be beaten. For his foolishness to get caught he was whipped twenty five times. The pain had made him pass out. When Buna was being evacuated, airplanes bombed its territory. Elie happy to see Buna being destroyed, realizing a war had just begun. These American airplanes were the only hope he had had in a long time, proving liberty still existed. All the men were given helmets, incase of another bombing. As one man was now being executed for his actions, Elie realized this death out of all was critical. As the man chanted “long live liberty”, a sense of hope was given to through out the camp.

61-70

The words “the last day” rang on Elie’s ears when he heard such words. He began to think that maybe it was the last day to possibly live. In days f blessing, Elie found it almost impossible to pray for God. He strongly questioned his power, his love, and even his presence. He asked himself that if there were factories of death being built and used daily, how can he possibly be here? Every word they spoke of, had no meaning to him. As if to be unreal or worthless. New Years Day he asked for forgiveness, feeling such loneliness. Beign with out his God and anyone. Running to his father to wish him a happy new year, their silence said it all; they both understood each other better from that moment on. As another day came, another selection was to occur. To be chosen as in good health was to be quick and well of color. When his turn came, he ran as fast as he could, thankful for not being chosen.

71-80

As Elie later on found out his father was one of the ten chosen to head back to the crematory, they both panicked. Before leaving his father, he gave his son his knife and a spoon. To only receive it back when he was still in use for the camp. As winder came, the icy winds were unbearable to all. For of those winters, Elie had to have an operation or he would of lost his foot. As the doctor informs him that staying in the hospital was also dangerous for there were also selections done there frequently. Elie did not know whether to believe him or not, but he took his chances. One night as he rested, he heard gunshots, giving him hope once more. He then receives news that the camp would be once more transported to another camp. When it was time to leave, both Elie and his father moved along with the rest of the troops. At nights the red flares were clear to him. Filled with freedom and dreams.

81-90

As all the men marched to their unknown destination, the only heat the men had was from running. It was either that or death. As they ran explosions could be heard. With every stop he took, the pain in his feet grew stronger. He thought of dying once and for all, but soon he realized he must live for his father. Because he and his father were as one. If he would die, Elie would die. If Elie would die, his father would die. As the men finally had time to rest, Elie fell asleep. Waking up to his father’s touch, noticing how he had changed so much. It was like if he was the life he once lived; Now it being completely changed. Elie and his father worked as a team, making sure neither one of them fell asleep, never knowing if they would wake. Being each others’ hope, out of all the bad in the world, they would be there for each other. Out of all the hell that they had surpassed, his foot’s absence was of no worry to him any longer. Another chance of hope was Juliek who played the violin. The violin might have been his last hope, and to others. As Elie awoke, finding Juliek dead, his hope might have passed on to others. Giving greater hope that would luckily turn into strength.


91-100

The men had stayed in Gleiwitz for three cold days without food or water. As more and more men lost their will to survive, more became weaker. Soon new word spread that there would be another selection taking place. In the selection Elie’s father was not chosen to proceed. As he ran towards him, he caused such a confusion they were able to switch lines, confusing fate, tricking evil. Both of them had almost tricked death, al because of a bit of courage and hope. Once again they had escaped separation. The torture had blinded all hope of life until it came through. Granting them another day together. In the wagons men fought for a piece of bread. Bread that made hearts and souls turn into rock. Ones priority one day, were entirely different the next. On the coldest night, they both parted the wagon and had arrived at Buchenwald. Elie mentions that arguing with his father felt as if he was more arguing with death itself. Death who had chosen him, he who had chosen it.

101-109

Awakening from such a cold night, the thought of his father breathing his last breaths, had just seemed of low meaning to Elie now. He did not hae the will to save his father as much as he once did. He could no longer lie to himself, telling himself he was strong enough. Walking to find him his father asked him for a cup of water. Elie happy to see his father alive only chose to obey him. The sight of his father drinking valuable water made him think. It made him realize clearly that his father was now only a disturbance. By the end of the day his father was practically going out of his mind, the same as Madame Schatcher. There was no more hope for his father, just as the advise he had received from an SS officer. His father would not be of any use to him and was better off without him. The day after Elie awoke with the fact of his father no longer existing. As much as he respected and loved his father, he had now felt something he had longing to feel with out the slightest knowledge of having. He had felt free. Free to live for himself and only himself. Looking in the mirror, this new man, this new survivor was the only thing Elie saw looking back at him.

VOCAB. WORDS

Prostrate = to cast (one self) facedown, as in humility. To overcome or exhaust, lying flat, helpless, weak, exhausted.
Interlude = an intervening episode, period, or space, something performed in this.

Reprieve = to delay the punishment of, a despite.

Rations = a first allowance, to apportion

Dysentery = an infections, disease of the intestine.

Robust = healthy

Quarantine = strict isolation to prevent spread of disease.

Apathy = lack of interest or emotion.

Humane = compassionate and sympathetic towards others

Grimace = a facial expression indications pain, disapproval, etc.

Nocturnal = of the night, occurring or active by night

Livid = furiously angry, dull bluish gray.

Pious = devout, hypocritically vituous.

Interminable = seeming to be with out end, endless

Wizened = shriveled.

Morale = spirits, mood

Infernal = hellish, diabolical, of hell

Refuge = (a place giving), a shelter from danger.

Oppressive = to exercise harsh authority over, to lie heavily on

Expelled = to drive or force away.