• Catalog and Account Guide
  • Ask a Librarian
  • Website Feedback
  • Log In / Register
  • My Library Dashboard
  • My Borrowing
  • Checked Out
  • Borrowing History
  • ILL Requests
  • My Collections
  • For Later Shelf
  • Completed Shelf
  • In Progress Shelf
  • My Settings

Chicago Public Library

Night Discussion Questions

  • What would be the considerations for your decision to warn others, keep quiet or take action in a similar situation?
  • Why does Madame Schachter scream? Is she a madwoman or a prophet?
  • Why are the prisoners so angry with the newly arrived Jews?
  • After prisoners are shaven, given tattoos and uniforms, what are they left with?
  • Why do Eliezer and the other prisoners respond so emotionally to the hanging of the child? Why were the SS “more preoccupied, more disturbed than usual?”
  • Discuss how Eliezer’s relationship with his fath
  • Why are the warnings of “horrible things to come” from Moshe the Beadle not taken seriously? Are there other warnings?
  • er changes throughout the book.
  • The Kaddish, the traditional Jewish prayer of mourning, does not mention the dead and instead praises God. In Night , what did it mean that living people recited it for themselves and why did this anger Eliezer?
  • What advice does the head of the block give to Eliezer on page 105? How does it compare to the advice given by the young Pole on page 38?
  • Wiesel concludes his work by writing, “a corpse gazed back at me, the look in his eye, as they stared at mine, has never left me.” Discuss this statement.
  • From deportation from Sighet to murder at Birkenau, deception was often used to confuse the prisoners. How does does deception dehumanize?
  • What is the symbolism of the word “night” in the book?
  • How is Wiesel’s moral struggle an important element of Night ?
  • Why do you think survivors often feel guilty?
  • What hints of hope does Wiesel offer us?
  • Why do you think Wiesel tells his story in the first person? If Night were written in the third person, would it be more or less believable?
  • Why is this book relevant today?

What Is Genocide?

The United Nations Genocide Convention “confirms” that genocide is an international crime, which countries “undertake to prevent and to punish.” By the terms of the Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Most countries in the world, including the United States, are parties to the Convention.

  • Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights . Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Content last updated: April 30, 2002

Related Information

Powered by BiblioCommons.

BiblioWeb: webapp04 Version 4.17.0 Last updated 2024/02/06 09:30

Close

night discussion questions chapter 1

Elie Wiesel

Everything you need for every book you read..

Having and Losing Faith in God Theme Icon

logo

100 pages • 3 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-9

Key Figures

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions Beta

Use the dropdowns below to tailor your questions by title, pre- or post-reading status, topic, and the difficulty level that suits your audience. Click "Generate," and that's it! Your set of ready-to-discuss questions will populate in seconds.

Select and customize your discussion questions!

Your Discussion Questions

Your results will show here.

Inspired by SuperSummary, powered by AI.

Our AI tools are evolving, sometimes exhibiting inaccuracies or biases that don't align with our principles. Discover how AI and expert content drive our innovative tools. Read more

Related Titles

By Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel

Hope, Despair and Memory

Never Shall I Forget

The Forgotten

The Perils of Indifference

Featured Collections

Audio study guides.

View Collection

European History

International holocaust remembrance day, jewish american literature, loyalty & betrayal, world war ii.

Teaching Night

15 Discussion Questions for Night

Discussion Questions for Night

  • Lesson Plans

Below are 15 discussion questions you can use in your lesson plans for Night by Elie Wiesel.

Use them to start group or class discussions, as writing prompts, or as long answer questions on a unit test.

  • How does Elie Wiesel’s experiences in the concentration camps change his beliefs and understanding of God?
  • What is the significance of the book’s title, Night?
  • How does Elie’s relationship with his father change throughout their time in the camps?
  • What role do the other prisoners play in Elie’s survival?
  • How does Elie’s faith in God evolve throughout the course of the book?
  • How does Elie’s relationship with other prisoners, such as Moshe the Beadle and Rabbi Eliahou, shape his experiences in the camps?
  • What is the symbolic significance of the rabbi’s green candle?
  • How does Elie’s relationship with his mother and sister change after their arrival at Auschwitz?
  • How does the dehumanization process play out in the camps?
  • What message do you think Elie Wiesel was trying to convey through this memoir?
  • How does the portrayal of the guards and their behavior towards the prisoners change over the course of the book?
  • How does the loss of identity and individuality affect the prisoners in the camps?
  • What impact does the lack of basic necessities, such as food, water, and shelter, have on the prisoners?
  • How does the separation from loved ones, including families and friends, affect the prisoners’ experiences in the camps?
  • How does Elie’s passage from childhood to adulthood shape his experiences in the camps?

Fore more questions, lesson plans, and everything else you need to teach Night , check out this amazing full unit plan .

discussion questions elie wiesel lesson plan night teaching

Related Posts

night discussion questions chapter 1

10 Lesson Plan Ideas for Night

Here are 10 quick lesson plan ideas you can use for teaching Night by Elie Wiesel. If you want more ...

night discussion questions chapter 1

Theme Lesson for Night by Elie Wiesel

Theme In this lesson, students will identify, discuss, and write about themes in Elie Wiesel’s Night. Theme is sometimes a ...

night discussion questions chapter 1

Theme Statements for Night by Elie Wiesel

This lesson is a continuation of Theme Lesson for Night by Elie Wiesel. Be sure to start there before you ...

by Elie Wiesel

Night essay questions.

Using examples from the text, what does Wiesel convey about human nature in the concentration camps? Where does he (if at all) draw the line between humanity and barbarism?

Early on, Eliezer indicates that it does not take much for a complete breakdown of civility to ensue. Even as the Jews are deported from Sighet, Eliezer reveals, couples began to openly copulate in the train car. As more and more time is spent in the camps, Eliezer describes a situation in which man turns into beast. This is best exemplified in which the guards throw bread into the train car and fighting ensues, to the point at which hunger is more important to the body that relationships are to the mind, and a man kills his own father for the piece of bread. As Eliezer describes: "Men were hurling themselves against each other, trampling, tearing at and mauling each other. Beasts of prey unleashed, animal hate in their eyes. An extraordinary vitality possessed them, sharpening their teeth and nails" (pg. 101). Eliezer does not shy away from describing himself as a beast: "I fought my way to the coffee cauldron like a wild beast" (pg. 106).

Discuss Eliezer’s struggle with faith throughout the book. What is his relationship with God in the beginning, and what is it by the end of his time in the concentration camps?

At the beginning, Eliezer is very devout, and he devotes his studies to mystic teaching and to prayer. While he never fully carries a disbelief in God, throughout this time in the concentration camps he comes to resent God, and to mistrust him. Rather than deny his existence, Eliezer instead turns to interrogating God's motives. He foreshadows this transformation at the start of the book, saying, "In the beginning there was faith—which is childish; trust—which is vain; and illusion—which is dangerous." (Forward). After time spent in the camps, Eliezer questions God: "What are You, my God? I thought angrily. How do You compare to this stricken mass gathered to affirm to You their faith, their anger, their defiance? What does Your grandeur mean, Master of the Universe, in the face of all this cowardice, this decay, and this misery? Why do you go on troubling these poor people's wounded minds, their ailing bodies?" (pg. 66.)

Throughout the piece, Eliezer sometimes separates his mind and his body. When are some examples of this, and what does he convey by describing himself in these ways?

The strongest example of when Eliezer separates himself from his body is during the death march in the snow, in which he describes his body as something that merely anchors him, acting against his desire to be free of pain and suffering. As he states: "I was putting one foot in front of the other, like a machine. I was dragging this emaciated body that was still such a weight. If only I could have shed it! Though I tried to put it out of my mind, I couldn't help thinking that there were two of us: my body and I. And I hated that body" (pg. 85). Another moment that conveys this separation of mind and body is when both his mind and his body are afraid of a blow to the head similar to the one that a guard had dealt his father: "I didn't move. I was afraid, my body was afraid of another blow, this time to my head" (pg. 111).

Though there are many images of prisoners struggling to live, there are also more unnerving ones of prisoners becoming so apathetic that their will to die is stronger. To what does Eliezer attribute this apathy, and how does he describe prisoner’s “will to live"?

Eliezer frequently attributes death of the prisoners not only to dire circumstances and the struggle for survival, but also to moments of apathy in which prisoners simply give up. More often than not, Eliezer attributes the loss of the will to live to two principal factors: the complete disbelief in God, and the knowledge that one's family has perished. The earliest evidence of this is the incident of Akiba Drumer, in which Eliezer lies to him and tells him that his family is well:

"'The only thing that keeps me alive,' [Drumer] kept saying, 'is to know that Reizel and the little ones are still alive. Were it not for them, I would give up.' One evening, he came to see us, his face radiant. 'A transport just arrived from Antwerp. I shall go to see them tomorrow. Surely they will have news …' He left. We never saw him again. He had been given the news. The real news"(pg. 45). When Eliezer believes that his father, who looks weakened and frozen after the march, may be dead, he says, "Suddenly, the evidence overwhelmed me: there was no longer any reason to live, any reason to fight" (pg. 99).

Discuss Eliezer and his father’s evolving relationship throughout the piece. At one point is there a role reversal—when does this happen, and how does Eliezer cope with it?

Throughout Night, Weisel describes how the trials of the concentration camp effectively switch the roles of father and son over time. The father-and-son relationship is first strained when Eliezer immediately understands the immediacy of the deportation threat and asks his father to "sell everything, liquidate everything, and to leave." Before even being deported, Eliezer's father refuses to get an immigration pass to Palestine, citing his age: "I am too old my son...too old to start a new life...too old to start from scratch in a distant land" (pg. 9). At the beginning of the piece, this is where the age difference between Eliezer and his father appears to be the widest; thereafter, the hardships narrow this chasm until, by the end of the piece, there is almost a complete temporal switch.

While there are indeed some instances in which Weisel's father looks out for his son (including giving him extra rations of bread) by the end, Eliezer begins to take on more and more responsibility for his father, until the pressure of having his father rely on him becomes almost unbearable. After the march through the snow, Eliezer's father develops dysentery and relies completely on his son for survival. The last word on his father's lips is "Eliezer." Eliezer feels numb to his father's death and feels guilty for being somehow grateful for his father's passing:"I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!" (pg. 112.)

GradeSaver will pay $15 for your literature essays

Night Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Night is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Night, Chapter 2

From the text:

"There are eighty of you in the car," the German officer added. "If anyone goes missing, you will all be shot, like dogs."

What becomes elies main goal

In chapter three Elizer's main goal was for himself and his father to be selected for work and thus stay alive. They achieve this goal by lying to authorities and looking healthy enough to work.

I'm sorry, you have not provided the excerpt in question. Please include all information in your posts.

Study Guide for Night

Night study guide contains a biography of Elie Wiesel, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

  • About Night
  • Night Summary
  • Character List

Essays for Night

Night essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Night by Elie Wiesel.

  • Silent Night
  • The Motivation in Night
  • The Gospel According to Mark and Night: Would St. Mark Call Night a 'Religious Book'?
  • NIght and the Problem of Evil
  • The Changing Nature of the Relationship Between Elie and His Father in Night

Lesson Plan for Night

  • About the Author
  • Study Objectives
  • Common Core Standards
  • Introduction to Night
  • Relationship to Other Books
  • Bringing in Technology
  • Notes to the Teacher
  • Related Links
  • Night Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Night

  • Introduction
  • Film and television
  • Video games

night discussion questions chapter 1

  • World History

night chs 1-3 questions answer key

night discussion questions chapter 1

Related documents

Night Review

Study collections

Add this document to collection(s).

You can add this document to your study collection(s)

Add this document to saved

You can add this document to your saved list

Suggest us how to improve StudyLib

(For complaints, use another form )

Input it if you want to receive answer

night discussion questions chapter 1

Night Discussion Questions

night discussion questions chapter 1

WATCH OWN APP

Download the Watch OWN app and access OWN anytime, anywhere. Watch full episodes and live stream OWN whenever and wherever you want. The Watch OWN app is free and available to you as part of your OWN subscription through a participating TV provider.

NEWSLETTERS

SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS TODAY AND ENJOY THE BENEFITS.

  • Stay up to date with the latest trends that matter to you most.
  • Have top-notch advice and tips delivered directly to you.
  • Be in the know on current and upcoming trends.

OPRAH IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF HARPO, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2024 HARPO PRODUCTIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. OWN: OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK

night chapter 1

All Formats

Resource types, all resource types.

  • Rating Count
  • Price (Ascending)
  • Price (Descending)
  • Most Recent

Night chapter 1

Preview of "Night" by Elie Wiesel Chapter 1 Notes

" Night " by Elie Wiesel Chapter 1 Notes

night discussion questions chapter 1

Vocabulary in Context: Night by Elie Wiesel ( Chapters 1 -3)

night discussion questions chapter 1

NIGHT by Elie Wiesel - Chapter 1 Vocabulary Practice!

night discussion questions chapter 1

  • Google Docs™

Preview of Night by Elie Wiesel Chapter 1 Reading Guide (printable)

Night by Elie Wiesel Chapter 1 Reading Guide (printable)

night discussion questions chapter 1

A Night Divided Chapters 1 -6 Quiz FREE

night discussion questions chapter 1

Amari and the Night Brothers Novel Study ( Chapter 1 Free Sample)

night discussion questions chapter 1

Night Raven Midway Test Chapters 1 -13

night discussion questions chapter 1

The Night Wanderer: Prologue and chapter 1 (v-5) Reading Questions

night discussion questions chapter 1

Night Vocabulary Chapter 1

night discussion questions chapter 1

  • Word Document File

Preview of A Night Divided Chapters 1-6 Discussion Questions FREE

A Night Divided Chapters 1 -6 Discussion Questions FREE

Preview of Night: Chapters 1-3 Reading Quiz (RL10.1) Version A

Night : Chapters 1 -3 Reading Quiz (RL10. 1 ) Version A

night discussion questions chapter 1

Night by Elie Wiesel chapter 1 worksheet

night discussion questions chapter 1

Elie Wiesel's ' Night ' - Chapter Questions for Chapters 1 - 9

night discussion questions chapter 1

NIGHT - Characterization in Chapters 1 +2

night discussion questions chapter 1

S.T.E.A.L Characterization for Elie in Chapter 1 of Night

night discussion questions chapter 1

Night Chapter One Short Answer Quiz

night discussion questions chapter 1

Night : Chapter 1 Word Search

night discussion questions chapter 1

  • Google Slides™

Preview of Night Chapter 1 Character Chart and CER question

Night Chapter 1 Character Chart and CER question

night discussion questions chapter 1

Friday Night Lights Chapter 1 quiz

night discussion questions chapter 1

Night - Chapters 1 -9 Tasks

night discussion questions chapter 1

Night Elie Wiesel Chapter 1

night discussion questions chapter 1

Night Chapter 1 : Character Chart and Timeline

night discussion questions chapter 1

Night quiz chapters 1 -2

night discussion questions chapter 1

Chapter 1 Quiz - Friday Night Lights

  • We're hiring
  • Help & FAQ
  • Privacy policy
  • Student privacy
  • Terms of service
  • Tell us what you think

IMAGES

  1. Night_Questions

    night discussion questions chapter 1

  2. Night Discussion Questions by Kelly Entzel

    night discussion questions chapter 1

  3. Night Answer Key for questions part 1-9

    night discussion questions chapter 1

  4. Night Discussion Questions that Grow Critical Thinking by ELA Content

    night discussion questions chapter 1

  5. night study guide questions

    night discussion questions chapter 1

  6. Night Chapter Questions

    night discussion questions chapter 1

VIDEO

  1. Introduction

  2. Night Revision 1 5 2 6

  3. important short answer |class12 |English Prose ||upboard 2023-24 |important questions |कक्षा 12th

  4. Class 12th Maths Last 60 Days Most important questions for board exam 2024

  5. Class 8th important questions (chapter 1)⁉️ exam preparation

  6. Plus One Public Exam Tough ആയിരിക്കുമോ? Reality Of Public Exam

COMMENTS

  1. Night Chapter 1-9 study guide Questions and answers

    It was extremely hot in the train, and everyone was very thirsty. 2. What does this quote mean, "Our eyes opened. Too late." They realized that they should have listened to the people who tried to warn them that they should have escaped. Now it was too late and they had to accept their fate, not an easy task to do. 3.

  2. Night Discussion Questions & Answers

    Q&As Discussions Night | Discussion Questions 1 - 10 Share In Night, Section 1 how do the attitudes of Sighet's citizens toward the city's needy foreshadow their future behavior in the concentration camps? While the people of Sighet help the needy, they do it out of a sense of obligation rather than a sense of concern.

  3. Night Chapter 1 Questions Flashcards

    4.9 (16 reviews) Describe the character: Moshe the Beadle. Click the card to flip 👆. He is a bit of an awkward man, but he is kind and gentle nonetheless. He was Elie's teacher, he studied Talmud by day and Kabaula by night. He's Very religious, a foreign Jew, and lost his faith after his capture. Click the card to flip 👆.

  4. Night Chapter 1 Flashcards

    15 terms enahm Preview Chapter 18 Hunger Games (English) 7 terms reichertabigail Preview Urology in Food Animals 31 terms LittlePotato13 Preview Night Chapter 2 Questions 11 terms emiliejosephson Preview Chapter 3, Night 26 terms cscrobi

  5. Night: Questions & Answers

    Some of the novel's most difficult moments, including Eliezer's arrival at Birkenau, the prisoners' snowy march from Buna, and Shlomo's death, occur during the night, the literal darkness mirroring the emotional darkness that these events elicit. From a spiritual perspective, night also symbolizes the absence of God's light and ...

  6. Night Discussion Questions

    Discuss this statement. From deportation from Sighet to murder at Birkenau, deception was often used to confuse the prisoners. How does does deception dehumanize? What is the symbolism of the word "night" in the book? How is Wiesel's moral struggle an important element of Night? Why do you think survivors often feel guilty?

  7. Night Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

    Night: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis Next Chapter 2 Themes and Colors Key Summary Analysis Eliezer is twelve in 1941. He lives in a town called Sighet, in territory then controlled by Hungary. His father is respected in the Jewish community.

  8. Night Discussion Questions

    Elie Wiesel Night Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1956 A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

  9. Night Chapter 1 Summary and Analysis

    Summary: Night opens with a brief description of a poor man named Moché the Beadle, who lives in the narrator's hometown of Sighet, Transylvania (modern-day Romania; at the time that the novel opens, the town is under Hungarian control). Moché is generally well liked, works in the Hasidic synagogue, and is a very pious and humble individual.

  10. DOC Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools / Front Page

    A memoir a story of ones life told by the person similar to an autobiography. Describe the tone of this memoir, and speculate on why Wiesel chooses to this tone. Chapter 2 After several days of travel, what did the prisoners finally realize? What happened to Madame Schâchter, and what did she do?

  11. Night: Study Guide

    The literary memoir not only serves as a personal account of survival, as Eliezer is a slightly fictionalized version of author Elie Wiesel, but also delves into profound questions about faith, humanity, and the consequences of unchecked hatred.

  12. Night Section 1 Summary & Analysis

    Analysis One of the enduring questions that has tormented the Jews of Europe who survived the Holocaust is whether or not they might have been able to escape the Holocaust had they acted more quickly.

  13. Night Study Questions Flashcards

    -Chapter 1- Describe Moshe the Beadle. Explain his relationship with the Jews of Sighet, particularly Eliezer. Click the card to flip 👆 Moshe the Beadle is a poor, foreign Jew who lives in Sighet. He is awkward and shy. The people of Sighet are kind to him, even though he is a little bit odd at times. Moshe helps teach some Kabbalah to Eliezer.

  14. Night Questions and Answers

    Based on the quote from page 21 of Night, what can be inferred about Elie's mindset? Night Questions and Answers - Discover the eNotes.com community of teachers, mentors and students just like you ...

  15. 15 Discussion Questions for Night

    Below are 15 discussion questions you can use in your lesson plans for Night by Elie Wiesel. Use them to start group or class discussions, as writing prompts, or as long answer questions on a unit test. Questions How does Elie Wiesel's experiences in the concentration camps change his beliefs and understanding of God?

  16. Night Essay Questions

    Ask Your Own Question. Night essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Night by Elie Wiesel. Night study guide contains a biography of Elie Wiesel, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

  17. night chs 1-3 questions answer key

    2. Why did Eliezer pray, and why did he cry when he prayed? He did not know why. Why did he breathe? 3. Upon his return, what story did Moshe tell? He and other foreign Jews had been taken by train through Hungary and into Poland. They were taken to a forest and made to dig graves. Then the Gestapo killed them.

  18. Night Study Guide- Chapter 1 Flashcards

    Night Study Guide- Chapter 1. 5.0 (1 review) Describe Moshe, the Beadle. Click the card to flip 👆. Elies "friend", mentor, sang and helped him with his faith, was joyous, poor, religious, knew everyone. Click the card to flip 👆. 1 / 15.

  19. Oprah's Book Club

    Discussion Questions. Developed in collaboration with Hill and Wang, the publisher of Night. 1. As Night begins, Eliezer is so moved by faith that he weeps when he prays. He is also searching for a deeper understanding of the mystical teachings of the Kabbalah. How does Eliezer's relationship with his faith and with God change as the book ...

  20. Night Chapter 1 Discussion Questions.docx

    Night - Chapter One Discussion Questions Directions: Respond to the following questions using complete, thoughtful sentences. 1) How would you characterize Eliezer's relationship with God and why do you think it's important? I would say Eliezer's relationship with the god was strong and the faith was unbreakable.

  21. Night Chapters 1-3 Review Flashcards

    Reading comprehension and study questions for chapters 1-3 of the novel, Night. Learn with flashcards, games, and more — for free. ... night chapter 1-3 study guide + vocab. 31 terms. karleighdudas. Preview. 1.16 Unit Test: Jazz - Part 1. Teacher 39 terms. prodphoenix_ Preview. Night Chapter 4 Review Questions.

  22. Results for night chapter 1

    A Night Divided Chapters 1-6 Discussion Questions FREE. Created by . Kayla Wade. Looking for A Night Divided discussion questions that challenge your students to think deeply? This set of higher-order questions will take your students beyond the text by pushing them to make real world connections and helping them explore various themes in the ...

  23. Night Section 1 (Pages 1-20) Questions Flashcards

    It was 1942. The story started out in Sighet, Transylvania. World War II was going on. The author mentions 1943, then describes events in 1944. Describe, in order, the events that happened from the last day of Passover until Pentecost. On the last day of Passover the Germans arrested the Jewish community leaders.