Premium Essay

Night

In:

Submitted By shs16
Words 2916
Pages 12
THHS Rachel Kupferberg, Rachel Maschler

AP Literature-Band 6 May 1, 2011

Major Works Data Sheet- Night

Title: Night

Author: Elie Wiesel

Date of Publication: 1958

Genre: autobiography, memoir

Historical information about period of publication: World War II, and the Holocaust, ended in April 1945 when the liberating Allied armies came through the conquered territories in Nazi Europe. Night describes 16 year old Elie’s loss of faith in God, humanity, family and morality in general. Elie, therefore, vowed to not speak of his experience in Auschwitz, Buna or Buchenwald (or any event between 1943 and 1945, from the beginning of the occupation of Hungary to Germany’s liberation in 1945) for ten years, until he had time to internalize this dramatic loss, and regain his faith and possession of his memory and life. In 1954, after realizing that even less than ten years after the end of the Holocaust, the world was already forgetting and Jews were abandoning their roots, the time had come to testify and justify to the world that Hitler had not succeeded.

Biographical Information about the author: Eliezer “Elie” Wiesel was born on September 30, 1928 in Sighet Romania, where his memoir Night begins. In his childhood (up to the Nazi occupation of Romania) his father encouraged his study of the Torah, other Judaic texts and other literary works. As described in the beginning of Night, Elie was also curious about the realm of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. From 1944 to 1945, Elie and his family were subjected to the Nazi terror (will be described in the plot summary section). Elie and two of his sisters, Beatrice and Hilda, survived the war and were reunited in a French orphanage after the war; the rest of his family did not survive. After the war Elie taught Hebrew before becoming a journalist and then an author. He is the

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Night

...‘Survival of the Fittest’ is defined as the continued existence of organisms that are best adapted to their environment with the extinction of others (Wikipedia: Survival of the Fittest). In Night by Elie Wiesel, in face of extermination the Jews of Sighet commit uncharacteristic ‘sins’. Fear had forced silence, fear had forced evil deeds and fear had turned the Jews against one another. The cruelties of natural selection is described in Night by Elie Wiesel, portraying the breaking of the human spirit, damaging faith in humanity, family, and God. Humanity, an important theme in Elie Wiesel’s memoire is portrayed as an ever changing proposition. The Jews of Sighet, and most importantly Elie, is seen struggling with his conscious based on the inhumane acts of oppression he has witnessed. In the beginning his faith is abundant and is evident through his trust in the German’s and disbelief in Moshie the Beadle (his mentor). “He told me what had happened to him and his companions. …The Jews were ordered to get off and onto waiting trucks. The trucks headed toward a forest. ...Infants were tossed into the air and used as targets for the machine guns” (Wiesel 6). Although, Elie did not believe Moshie at first the nightmares described by his mentor became a reality when he had first entered the concentration camps. The traumatizing events witnessed by Elie had caused him to question his faith in the human race while stripping him of reason to live. It was hard for him (Elie) to...

Words: 1022 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Night Market

...One of the most interesting places in Malaysia is the night market. You may visit and experience the night market yourselves. Both locals and foreigners agree that the night market is the most common feature in the local society. The night market begins when the vendors arrive in the late afternoon. More and more goods laden vans arrive to begin a brisk day of business. Most of the vendors busily set out to set up their stalls respectively in order to get ready for a brisk day of business. The sun gradually sets and the night market picks up momentum. More cars and vans are arriving. By now, the stalls are neatly and strategically arranged to entice their customers. There is an assortment of goods sold ranging from food, toys and clothes, to name a few. A variety of goods is sold at low prices. Large rainbow-coloured parasols are used to shade the people from rain and shine. A concoction of blaring music can be heard in the night market background amidst the constant shouting. It is an amazing kaleidoscope of sights, sounds, smells and colours. The night market is known as a haven by local ‘gourmets’ who can enjoy various kinds of mouth-watering local cuisine. Still more people arrive, they come from all walks of life, mingling freely and harmoniously. Crowds are walking up and down in an endless stream. Some of them are stopping by the stalls and haggling before making purchases. Little children tag along, amused and excited. Sprinklings of tourists join in to experience...

Words: 364 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Night By Elie Wiesel

...Night by Elie Wiesel is a novel of post-Holocaust literature. It is a story about a Jewish man and his family and of the unspeakable horrors that they endured during World War II. Night is a retelling of a terrible story, everything that leads to Wiesel and his family entering Auschwitz, the most notorious death camp to this day, and the aftermath of liberation. Night is an incredibly well written novel. It twines together the power of fear and the loss of faith. It touches on how humanity changes in the face of power and oppression. This novel is able to not only testify, but discuss the atrocities of events that are not easily spoken about. Wiesel manages to takes many difficult subjects like murder, religion, and false hope and force people...

Words: 1624 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Commentary On Night By Elie Wiesel

...The book I read for this assignment is Night by Elie Wiesel. Night is a memoir about Wiesel's horrific experiences at the German concentration camps Auschwitz and Buchenwald. In Night, there are two main conflicts. We see Wiesel struggle with his faith in god and his faith in humanity itself. In the beginning of the book, we get to see a bit of Elie's life. Elie is a 13-year-old Jewish boy living in Sighet, Transylvania. "By day I studied Talmud and by night I would run to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the temple" (20). Elie finds a mentor in Moshe the Beadle, a poor Hungarian immigrant that possesses a deep understanding of Jewish mysticism. Moshe and Elie pray together. Moshe the Beadle also helps Elie with his studies in...

Words: 1572 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Elie Wiesel's Night Analysis

...Night by Elie Wiesel, recounts his experiences during the holocaust. Wiesel and his family were Jews living in Nazi Germany. He and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Elie was fifteen when he was imprisoned and his goal was to keep his family together. When the Germans separated Elie and his father from his mother and sister, he then focused on staying by his father’s side. As he and his father were being transported to Buna Werke, a concentration, the fear of being separated from his father was great, “all I [Elie] could think of was not to lose him [Elie’s father],” (Wiesel 30). Realizing that he would never see his mother and sister again, the idea of being alone without his father terrified him. Elie’s devotion to his father gave him a reason to...

Words: 670 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Analysis Of Night By Elie Wiesel

...Night by Elie Wiesel is an autobiography about his experience of being forced to survive in a concentration camp. At the tender age of 15, Elie had to witness and suffer through things we could never imagine. As a Jew, one could only choose to die or work until they were too sick to function. Some people were unlucky enough to not get a choice to begin with. Unknowingly, this nightmare would change him externally and internally for life. Due to the atrocities witnessed and experienced during the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel, a once deeply religious individual, loses his faith in God, himself, and mankind. Throughout the story there were many occasions of where Elie started to question and lose his faith in God. One of the many occurances...

Words: 804 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Heroism In Elie Wiesel's Night

...This iconic symbol is ingrained into the minds of toddlers all over the world, and it continues to capture the awe of movie-goers today. While this may be entertaining and certainly enjoyable, it breeds a false idea about what being heroic means. Heroes do not always have supernatural powers; they may not even aspire to fight evil. A hero is someone who faces the worst of what life has to offer but takes a chance – a brief moment of courage. Whether in realistic tragedies, comical science fiction, or in supernatural TV thrillers, heroes are just ordinary people who go out on a limb to do what is right. Elie Wiesel was only fifteen when he was taken to Auschwitz, one of the most horrific concentration camps of the Holocaust. In his memoir, Night, he tells of the dark and sadistic mistreatment of the Jews imprisoned in the camp. Among endless other tales of heroism, one man, who is not even named in the book, shows courage in a simple way that makes a huge impact on Wiesel. When they first arrive at the camp, this unnamed man secretly advises Wiesel and his father to lie about...

Words: 641 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Symbolism In Elie Wiesel's Night

...be like if you knew that at any second of your day you could die? Elie Wiesel, a first-hand witness of the Holocaust, wrote a book called Night about how he lost his faith while suffering in harsh conditions at Auschwitz. The book illustrates the memories he has of what happened at the camps, his faith journey that turned into a complete rollercoaster, and how he was close to death through it all. In the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, he uses the symbols of smoke, fire, and the skull with crossbones to foreshadow death or pain. In the book, the smoke represents death throughout the whole book. On page 6, it states: The train disappeared over the horizon; all that was left was thick, dirty smoke. This represents death because as the Jews are being crammed into tight cattle cars, they...

Words: 572 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Night By Elie Wiesel Analysis

...Have you ever wondered how different your life might be if you were deported to a concentration camp, but managed to escape and survive? In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie and his family were deported to a concentration camp. Elie eventually lost his mother, father, and sisters, and struggled to survive throughout the book. After going through many horrible things, he was freed when American tanks came to the concentration camp Elie was at. Elie had been affected by many events in the book, such as the loss of his humanity, the harsh conditions in the camps, and the loss of his father. One event that clearly changed him was the loss of his humanity. In short, he lost everything that made Elie himself, such as his clothes and even his own name. For example, Elie said “A Kapo came in to check if somebody had new shoes… I had new shoes. But, as they were covered in mud, they weren’t noticed. I thanked God for creating mud” (Page 38). It is very evident that Elie did not want to lose his shoes, because the Germans had already taken everything he owned that made Elie unique. Another example can be found just a few pages later. Elie notes “I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name” (Page 42). He was no longer identified as a living human being with a name, but...

Words: 721 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Starry Night

...insanity, instability, and his pure obsession with the art he created, but the first time I saw Starry Night, I was overcome with an immense feeling of calmness and serenity that completely took me by surprise. Van Gogh’s Starry Night was one of the many works painted during his time in the Saint-Remy Asylum in 1889 and is now one of the most recognizable and desirable works of art in the world. Starry Night now resides in The Museum of Modern Art it New York, New York where it is admired and appreciated by thousands of people daily. I honestly don’t know the true definition of my feelings towards the painting. I only know that it stands out to me more so than any of his other works. When I see Starry Night, I see the dark sky that Van Gogh saw; and not only the darkness, but the exact opposite as well. I see the extreme brightness and color that he emphasizes throughout the night sky. He portrays the colors of the night with such brilliance and I am irrevocably drawn to that. Van Gogh gives the wind, literal and unmistakable movement that is impossible to interpret in any other way. The stars are oversized and shine brighter than our current reality, but I would assume it was to emphasize their brightness, and it’s a possibility that Van Gogh had a much better view of the stars than we do now and lived without our mass amounts of modern light pollution. The color blue in Starry Night is what I, and what I would assume many other people would be initially drawn to. It is the dominant...

Words: 571 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Night Sky

...I couldn't imagine growing up anywhere else other than a farm. I miss the gurgling sounds of irrigation houses as they watered the fields and the cool blanket it would produce over the farm on a hot summer night. Or playing in the dense sticky mud with my brothers and sister acting like we were stuck in quick sand, helpless to escape. However, nothing compares to the night sky on a clear evening. It would make any star gazer green with envy with its vivid scenery, wild life in the background and fresh brisk air. Once the coral and amethyst sky transforms into a vast amplitude of jet black the real joy began. A colossal umbrella of luminous stars would metamorphasized amongst the ocean of darkness. Every star and planet would be in its' proper place every night. A full moon would seemed to lighten the night, projecting invisible rays that would high light the mountains on the horizon. The stars would glitter and gleam, blinking wildly aginst the contrasting black night. Constellations were emense and easy to spot. The North star always shined brighter than the others making it effortless to find the Big Dipper.Some of my favorite memories are attached with the starry sky. Wildlife would invigorate the evening with its harmonious tunes. Frogs would start croaking and bellowing as the stars started to gleam. Crickets could be heard performing their orchestra of chirps and whistles for the man on moon. An occasional hoot from an underground owl would echo aginst concrete ditches...

Words: 441 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Twelfth Night

...Pick two characters in ‘Twelfth Night’ and analyse their role and what they might represent from what you have read so far. Use the text and any research you have done to help explain your opinions. Despite not being a main character, Feste has a significant role in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. It can be argued he is less of a character and more of a function as he takes on a choric, commentary role rather than a participatory one throughout the play. Feste’s position as an ‘allowed fool’ gives him the ability to speak his own inscrutable form of wisdom, and therefore allows him to point out truths that other characters don’t want to hear. He tells Olivia that her brother’s soul is in heaven and therefore beyond mourning, thereby urging her...

Words: 781 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Twelth Night

...English Essay Task Characters often play a crucial role in constructing meaning in plays; How have characters been developed in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night? Shakespeare is world-renowned for his aptitude in writing plays, for a wide range of audiences, and one of these plays is Twelfth Night. In this play, Shakespeare takes particular care in the development of his characters in order to construct the meanings and messages embedded in Twelfth Night. Through the development of some key, central characters within the play, namely Olivia and Malvolio, Shakespeare showcases the chaos and hardship instigated by their pride, and is then able to reinforce the importance of order and adhering to the set, established, hierarchy of Elizabethan times. Shakespeare first portrays the character of Olivia as vain, superficially judgemental, and indulging in her own self-pity, neglecting her duties as the lady of the house. A secondary character, Malvolio, is depicted by Shakespeare to be overambitious and full of his own self-importance – attempting to overstep his position. Shakespeare manifests different forms of pride in different characters in order to show that whatever the facet of pride the character might possess, in the end, their fatal flaw will still result in chaos and misfortune, thereby emphasising the need of adhering to and attending to the duties of their positions so that order can be maintained. Through Olivia’s language and interactions with other characters, Shakespeare...

Words: 1577 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Starry Night

...Starry Night Analysis Date of Creation: 1889 Height (cm): 73.70 Length (cm): 92.10 Medium: Oil Support: Canvas Subject: Landscapes Characteristics: Post-impressionism Framed: Yes Art Movement: Post-Impressionism Created by: Vincent van Gogh Current Location: New York, New York Owner: Museum of Modern Art Starry Night Analysis Page's Content  Composition  Use of color  Use of Light  Mood, Tone and Emotion  Brushstroke Starry Night Composition Top  Starry Night  Vincent van Gogh The night sky depicted by van Gogh in the Starry Night painting is brimming with whirling clouds, shining stars, and a bright crescent moon. The setting is one that viewers can relate to and van Gogh´s swirling sky directs the viewer´s eye around the painting, with spacing between the stars and the curving contours creating a dot-to-dot effect. These internal elements ensure fluidity and such contours were important for the artist even though they were becoming less significant for other Impressionists. Thus Starry Night´s composition was distinct from the Impressionist technique of the 19thcentury. The artist was aware that his Starry Night composition was somewhat surreal and stylized and in a letter to his brother he even referred to "exaggerations in terms of composition. " The vivid style chosen by van Gogh was unusual - he chose lines to portray this night scene when silhouettes would have been a more obvious choice. In Starry Night contoured forms are...

Words: 943 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Twelfth Night

...Twelfth Night is a magnificent comedy written by famous writer William Shakespeare. Twelfth Night or What you will was probably written for performance on the Twelfth Night i.e. the last night of the Christmas holiday ,January 6th in the year 1601.it is also likely that it was first presented before queen Elizabeth I in a great hall of her palace of Whitchali ,just outside London. the play would suit such an occasion since it’s a delightful ,lighthearted comedy ,full of love and laughter ,and with only a cloud or two to pass across the happy sunshine. But what about the social background of the play? For many centuries Christian communities have celebrated the feast of Epiphany-the time when the infant Jesus was first presented to the Magi (wise men) twelve days after his birth on Christmas day .in Shakespeare’s time; this whole period from 25th December to 6th January was given over to ‘Yuletide revels’-a time of feasting and celebration which probably dates back to Roman Satumalin. During this extended partying, it was traditional to play tricks on people, and it was understood that, for a while the usual master-servant relationship were turned on their heads. Twelfth Night was a period of carnival in which typically: a. People might give away to bodily pleasures of all kinds (drinking too much, indulging in sex, over eating and many more). b. Language itself seemed to run riot (with jokes, nonsense and wit). c. The traditional hierarchies (the lord and lady ‘at the top’...

Words: 1525 - Pages: 7