Elie Wiesel Night A-7713 “I d

Life of Elie Wiesel Wiesel was born in 1928 in Sighet. During WWII this town became apart of Hitler’s Third Reich. Wiesel grew up in the Jewish section of Sighet. His father’s name was Chlomo. He was shopkeeper and very involved in the Jewish community. Wiesel had three sisters. One of which was immediately sent to the gas chambers at Auschwitz.

Life Continued… His mother was well-educated and wanted her son to become a rabbi. Wiesel embedded himself in religious studies. He wanted to become a scholar.

Deportation At the age of fifteen, Wiesel was shipped to Auschwitz along with his family. Upon arrival his mother and sister were sent to the gas chambers. His identity was soon stripped. He became known as A-7713. He realized after the war that his two older sisters survived. Elie and his father remained together. His father died at Buchenwald just three months before liberation.

“After Auschwitz, the human condition is not the same, nothing will be the same." April, 1945 Wiesel was liberated from concentration camp. Along with four hundred children refugees, Wiesel was sent to France. He remained stateless until 1963. In 1963 he became a U.S. citizen. He supported himself by tutoring in Yiddish, Hebrew, and the Bible.

Life after War continued… Wiesel became a reporter . On one assignment he met the French Catholic writer Francois Mauriac, who encouraged the young Wiesel to write and also helped him find a publisher. Wiesel completed the first version of Night two years later. Mauriac wrote the foreword for the book.

Night Night is a memoir- an autobiographical story. Published in 1958. Night marked the beginning of Wiesel’s literary career.

“I decided to devote my life to telling the story because I felt that having survived I owed something to the dead and anyone who does not remember betrays them again.”-Elie Wiesel

Family Life and Career In 1968 Wiesel married his wife Marion, who served as his English translator. They had one son named Shlomo Elisha, after Wiesel’s father. They live in New York City. Wiesel is a writer and a teacher. He continues to be a witness to the Holocaust.

Awards Presidential Medal of Freedom United States Congressional Gold Medal French Legion of Honor Nobel Peace Prize, 1986

Bearing witness Wiesel views his writing as bearing witness. Wiesel once said in an interview, “In the Jewish tradition a witness is a kind of messenger. The witness says, ‘This is how things are.’ ‘Amen’ in Hebrew means, ‘That’s how it is.’ The witnesses we are make us into messengers.”

Literary Terms to know for Night Conflict-struggle between two opposing forces. External-occurs when a character is pitted against an outside force, such as another character, a physical obstacle, or an aspect of nature or society. Internal conflict-occurs when the struggle takes place within a character. Symbolism-a person, place, or object that represents something beyond itself.

More terms to know… Tone-the attitude a writer takes toward a subject. Mood-the feeling, or atmosphere, that a writer creates for the reader. Jargon-specialized language of a group. Suspense- the tension or excitement felt by the reader as he or she becomes involved in a story and eager to know the outcome of the conflict.

Connotation and Denotation Connotation-the associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning . Example: a connotation of “home” would be comfort, heart, warmth. Denotation- The most specific or direct meaning of a word, in contrast to its figurative or associated meanings.

Questions What genre of literature is Night? Memoir What is the difference between tone and mood? Tone is the attitude the writer takes toward a subject. Mood is the atmosphere the writer creates for the reader. What is the difference between connotation and denotation? Connotation is the associated meaning of a word. Denotation is the literal meaning of a word.

Sources http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_nm.php?ModuleId=10007200&MediaId=1281 Night by Elie Wiesel