Elie Wiesel

Study Guide

Notes

Night: Genre

Genre (type or style of writing)

World War II and Holocaust Autobiography

Night Study Guide Notes

The original title Elie Wiesel gave the novel was And the World Has Remained Silent.

He wrote this book after 10 years of silence.

By the end of the Holocaust, over 6 million Jews had been killed.

Night: Background

Wiesel first wrote a 900-page text in Yiddish titled Un di Velt Hot Geshvign (And the World Remained Silent). The work later evolved into the much-shorter French publication La Nuit, which was then translated into English as Night.

Night : Tone

Tone Eliezer’s perspective is limited to his own

experience, and the tone of Night is therefore intensely personal, subjective, and intimate. Night is not meant to be an all-encompassing discourse on the experience of the Holocaust; instead, it depicts the extraordinarily personal and painful experiences of a single victim.

Night: Setting

setting (time) · 1941–1945, during World War II

settings (place) ·

Eliezer’s story begins in Sighet, Transylvania (now part of Romania; during Wiesel’s

childhood, part of Hungary)

The book then follows his journey through several concentration camps in Europe: Auschwitz/Birkenau (in a part of modern-day Poland that had been

annexed by Germany in 1939)

Buna (a camp that was part of the Auschwitz complex) Gleiwitz (also in Poland but annexed by Germany) Buchenwald (Germany)

Night : Themes

Themes Eliezer's Struggle to Maintain Faith in a

Benevolent God Silence Inhumanity Toward Other Humans The Importance of Father-Son Bonds

Night Study Guide Notes

There are five motifs to look for while reading Night:

motifs (a recurring subject, theme, or idea)

Night – pay attention to what happens at night and what that might symbolize. Remember what we learned when we talked about archetypes and what night might symbolize.

Bearing Witness – Pay attention to which characters are witnesses and to what they bear witness.

Night Study Guide Notes

Motifs (continued): Father-son Relationships – Pay attention to

how Elie and his father’s relationship develops; in addition, notice other father-son relationships in the book.

Loss of Faith – Notice how Elie’s faith in God changes as the book progresses. Write on your study guides where these changes occur.

Night Study Guide Notes

Motifs (continued): Voice vs. Silence – Who has a voice and who

chooses to remain silent? Why might Elie Wiesel title his novel what he did originally (And the World Has Remained Silent), and why did he no longer remain silent?

Click here to listen to Elie Wiesel's "A God who Remembers"

Night : Symbols

Symbols Night

Fire appears throughout Night as a symbol of the Nazis' cruel power.

Fire Night always occurs when suffering is worst,

and its presence reflects Eliezer's belief that he lives in a world without God.

Night Study Guide Notes

In Poland, 90% of the approximately 3,000,000 Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

As you read, look for times that Wiesel mentions the people in surrounding towns.

There are several groups who contributed to the Holocaust, persecutors and by-standers included.

Be prepared to discuss: Why are by-standers just as important as the persecutors?