NIGHT

Essay Questions for Study

 

 

IN PARAGRAPH FORM you need to answer each of the following questions. You are not limited to one paragraph. You must provide specific examples from the book. If a question has to be answered in terms of how you feel about something I expect MUCH more than "I don’t like it." Three of these questions will be on your test Friday. Each question is worth 33 1/3 points. Four-five sentence responses will not earn full credit. I want LONG, DETAILED responses.

 

 

ESSAY QUESTIONS

 

  1. Dehumanization is the process by which the Nazis gradually reduced the Jews to little more than "things" which were a nuisance to them. Discuss at least three specific examples of events that occurred which dehumanized Eliezer, his father, or his fellow Jews.

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  2. After Eliezer’s father was beaten by Idek, a Kapo, Eliezer says, "I had watched the whole scene without moving. I kept quiet. In fact I was thinking of how to get farther away so that I would not be hit myself. What is more, any anger I felt at that moment was directed, not against the Kapo, but against my father. I was angry with him, for not knowing how to avoid Idek’s outbreak. That is what concentration camp life had made of me." Discuss what the last line signifies. Discuss how his attitude had changed.

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  3. Discuss why you think the townspeople remained complacent despite the advance of the German army.

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  4. Discuss why Eliezer lied to Stein, his relative, about Stein’s family. Discuss whether or not you think he was morally right.

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  5. Discuss the significance of "night" in the novel. Cite examples from the story to support your answer.

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  6. Explain the author’s meaning when he says after the handing of the youth from Warsaw that "the soup tasted excellent that evening," yet after the pipel was hanged, "the soup tasted of corpses."