1. About the Author Elie Wiesel
Pronounced: EL-LEE VEE-ZEL
In 1940, Romania became part of Hungary, an area that was soon invaded by the Nazis.
Eliezer (Elie), the only son, had two older sisters and one younger sister.
His family was Jewish, and Elie studied Hebrew and the Hassidic sect of Judaism. 1

2. About the Author Elie Wiesel Born in Romania on September 30, 1928
Elie survived the Holocaust and was liberated on April 11, 1945.
After the war, he learned that his two older sisters had survived.
Elie spent the next ten years living and studying in France, refusing to write anything about his experiences in the concentration camp.
His memoir Night was written in French and translated to English. 2

3. Elie Wiesel’s strong connection with the Jewish Community
Elie Wiesel’s Night
His father was involved with the community
Wiesel studied the Torah (1st five books in the Old Testament)
Wiesel studied the Talmud (oral law) and the Kabbalah
Wiesel’s book was published in 3 different languages and as part of a trilogy with Dawn and Day; containing more details of his experience

4. Genre of Night
While the book Night is about Wiesel’s life, it is not necessarily considered an autobiography
He changes facts to make his characters different, making some aspects fictional.
Because of this, his story is considered a memoir than an actual novel.
Wiesel lives in New England as an American citizen.
Elie in a WWII concentration camp
Malnutrition and starvation were common in the concentration camps

5. It revealed the Holocaust in stark, evocative detail.
With the encouragement of Francois Mauriac, Eliezer Wiesel broke his silence on the horror of the Holocaust to produce an 800-page memoir, entitled Un di Velt Hot Geshvign, in 1956.
That cathartic story was reworked over two years and became the slim 1958 novella La Nuit which became Night in 1960.
It revealed the Holocaust in stark, evocative detail. 5

6. Background of Novel:
This story is about Elie Wiesel, a young teenage, Jewish boy who is a survivor of the holocaust.
The story takes place in Sighet, Transylvania, Hungary, and Auschwitz, Germany in
The German troops invade his hometown, force all of the Jews to load up on a train and travel to Auschwitz.
Elie as a young boy; passengers load onto the trains

8. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Elie Wiesel Timeline and World Events: 1928–1951

9. Rhetoric & Rhetorical Devices
the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other techniques; language designed to have a persuasive or impressive effect on its audience, but often regarded as lacking in sincerity or meaningful content.
ETHOS – focus on writer’s trustworthiness PATHOS – focus on appeals to feelings and emotions LOGOS – focus on logic and reason

10. Different Rhetorical Devices
Rhetorical Question – questions that are asked to achieve a purpose other than finding the answer to the question; used to encourage reflection in the reader
Repetition – repeating a word or phrase to emphasize it for effect
Understatement – used to intentionally make a situation seem less important than it really is.
Allusion – a brief reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. It does not describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers.

11. Different Rhetorical Devices
Anaphora (pronounce a-NAPH-ora) - the deliberate repeating of the first part of the sentence in order to achieve an artistic effect 
Parallelism– Using the same general structure for multiple parts of a sentence, or for multiple sentences, in order to link them all. Use this to give your writing overall cohesion and balance.
Syntax– the actual way in which words and sentences are placed together in the writing. In English we follow a subject-verb-compliment pattern, but changing up the order can lead to inverted syntax (think: Yoda)

12. Literary Devices
Metaphor – comparison of two dissimilar items by stating one is the other
Imagery – painting a mental image with appeals to the five senses (sight, smell, sound, taste, touch)
Simile – comparison of two dissimilar items using like, as, and sometimes than
Personification – giving human qualities to non-human objects or ideas
Irony - Verbal irony is when someone says one thing and means another; dramatic irony is when the reader knows something that the character does not know; situational irony is the difference between the expected results and the actual results.

13. Some Thoughts…
Reading this book requires respectful behavior. Laughing or telling insensitive jokes will not be tolerated. Like many other genocides, millions of lives perished in the Holocaust.
Now we will begin reading aloud Elie Wiesel’s Night. Please pay attention and be respectful as we read. This is highly important, as there will be quizzes about the readings, as well as other assignments that will require you to be fully aware of what we’ve read. If you are absent, it is YOUR responsibility to ask me about checking out a book and getting any missed work. The final test over the book will include recalling specific facts, as well as applying your knowledge of the literary devices.

14. Quick review of yesterday’s reading…
Begin DAY 2
Quick review of yesterday’s reading…
Continue Chapter 1…

15. Review: Beginning of Night
Who is the narrator of the story? Elie Wiesel
Where is the narrator from? Sighet, Transylvania (Romania)
Explain the Talmud and the Kabbalah. The Talmud is the Jewish holy book. The Kabbalah is the first 3 books of the Old Testament, considered sacred. Includes mystical teachings and interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures.

16. Night begins in 1941 in a Hasidic Community in the town of Sighet, Transylvania.
There we meet a devout young boy named Eliezer who is so fascinated by his own culture and religion that he wishes to study Jewish Kabbalah.
His father, however, says he must master the Talmud before he can move on to the mystical side of the Jewish faith.
Moshe the Beadle indulges the boy until the reality of World War II reaches them.
The fascists come to power in Romania and foreign Jews are deported; Moshe with them.
Some days later, he makes it back to town and tells them what happened.
All the people presumed deported were shot.
Sighet Synagogue 16

17. That was only the beginning, the dusk of the coming night.
Within a matter of paragraphs, officers of the Nazi SS corps have arrived and the family is broken up and sent to Birkenau.
The metaphorical night only gets darker as Eliezer struggles to survive in the brutality and degradation of the camps.
“The yellow star? Oh well, what of it? You don’t die of it…” Elie Wiesel’s father
Rhetorical Device: Situational Irony 17

18. Background
They first arrive in Birkenau where Eliezer and his father are separated from his mother and sisters, never to see them again.
They have to endure “selections” (where the German troops select those who will go to the furnace and die, and those who will go to the barracks and work).
The many barbed wires and barracks of a concentration camp

19. Background: Problems and Conflict
Wiesel encounters many obstacles, mentally, physically, and spiritually, that he must endure.
He is forced to witness murders, is malnourished, and is constantly doubting his once confident faith.
The entire story is based on his experience there.
Background: Problems and Conflict

20. Eliezer -  The narrator of Night, protagonist, a teenage boy in the 1940’s. Dedicated to his faith in the beginning.
Shlomo - Eliezer’s father. His name is only mentioned one time throughout the whole novel, and is the only other character that is constant until the end. Highly regarded in the community.
Moishe the Beadle -
Eliezer’s teacher of Jewish mysticism, Moshe is a poor Jew who lives in Sighet.
Characters

21. Madame Schächter  -
A Jewish woman from Sighet who is deported with the rest of the community and goes crazy.
Juliek - 
A young musician whom Eliezer meets in Auschwitz.
Characters

22. Characters Dr. Josef Mengele -
the historically infamous Dr. Mengele was the cruel doctor who presided over the selection of arrivals at Auschwitz/Birkenau.
Idek - Eliezer’s Kapo (Nazi police officer at Buna, the work camp)
Dr. Josef Mengele was appropriately nicknamed “the Angel of Death” by inmates at Auschwitz

23. Symbols Thematic Ideas
Fire
Night
Eliezer’s struggle to maintain faith in a benevolent God
Silence
Inhumanity toward other humans
The importance of Father-Son bonds

24. Rhetorical Devices
Wiesel’s use of language helps emphasize the meaning, action, and tone of the sections.

25. Rhetorical Devices Rhetorical Questions:
Rhetorical questions are asked to achieve a purpose other than finding the answer to the question.
The speaker may want to encourage reflection in the reader.
For example, when Eliezer sees the babies being thrown into the fire, he asks a series of questions.
“Was I still alive? Was I awake? How was it possible that men, women, and children were being burned and that the world kept silent?” (p. 32)
Eliezer does not expect an answer to these questions.
He wants the reader to think about what his or her reaction might have been in seeing the same thing.

26. Rhetorical Devices Sentence variety
Pay attention to the sentence structures that Wiesel uses in the narration.
At some points in the memoir the sentences are long, and in some passages the sentences are only one word.
Wiesel varies the sentences length, structure, and order in order to parallel action in the passage or to help establish a tone.

27. Rhetorical Devices Understatement
Wiesel uses understatement throughout Night to help the reader visualize the events in the memoir.
Because many people are familiar with the details of the Holocaust, Wiesel understands that it would be difficult to adequately describe the true nature of what happened.
Instead, he lets the silence between the words serve as the true meaning.

28. Figurative Language
Wiesel uses figurative language throughout the memoir to amplify the images that the narration already creates.

29. Figurative Language Simile
Be certain not to miss the “like” or “as” when reading the descriptions.
For example, when Eliezer describes Mrs. Schachter on the train he states: “…she looked like a withered tree in a field of wheat.” (p. 25)
The image shows a woman who stands alone among the people who surround her.
She is already dead, as indicated by the word withered.

30. Figurative Language Metaphor
Metaphors can be recognized by finding the two ideas that are being compared.
For example, as the prisoners are first being transported from Sighet, they come face to face with the men who will be guarding them.
Eliezer uses the following metaphor to describe the men.
“Strange-looking creatures, dressed in striped jackets and black pants, jumped into the wagon.” (p. 28)
The image of the strange-looking creatures is meant to describe the men who come into the train to brutalize the prisoners.
They are not really creatures, but Wiesel’s image illustrates their animalistic brutality.

31. Figurative Language Personification
Personification is used to give human qualities to animals or objects.
“A glacial wind was enveloping us.” (p. 36)
“The stomach alone was measuring time.” (p. 52)
“Jealousy devoured us, consumed us.” (p. 59)

32. Figurative Language Irony
Verbal irony is when someone says one thing and means another; dramatic irony is when the reader knows something that the character does not know; situational irony is the discrepancy between the expected results and the actual results.
For example, when Eliezer goes to meet the dentist, the dentist has a mouth of “yellow, rotten teeth.” (p. 51)
The irony is that a dentist should have mouth of perfect teeth.
Another example of irony is the inscription that is on the iron gate at Auschwitz: “Work makes you free.”

33. Figurative Language Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is a literary device that is used when the speaker gives hints about what is going to happen later in the plot.
There are various examples of foreshadowing in Night, but they are very subtle.
The reader often recognizes them after reading further in the text.
One of the clearest examples of foreshadowing is Mrs. Schächter’s vision of the fires before the prisoners reach the camps. (p. 24)

34. Motifs
Throughout Night, Wiesel repeats literary devices and images that help to develop the memoir’s major themes.
Notice
how night and light are used throughout the text;
how the Jewish traditions and holidays help to pace the memoir; and
how animal imagery is used to explore the dehumanization of the Jews.

35. Point of View or Narration
First-Person POV: the narrator speaks in the first person as they relate to the story. The narrator may or may not be the protagonist.
Wiesel uses the first-person point of view to narrate
Think about the effect first-person narration has on the reader. How does it make the reader feel?

36. Mood
the feeling created by the setting, characters, or action of a work

37. Allusion
a reference to a text, historical figure, event, or place that the writer expects the reader to understand
Why do writers use allusion? What do allusions have to offer readers?

38. 38

39. Recognition…
Wiesel has lived his life speaking out against all forms of racism and violence.
In 1985 he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Freedom and, in 1986, the Nobel Prize for Peace.
He is partially responsible for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. 39

40. The house in Sighet where Wiesel was born…
photographed in 2007 40

41. …just three weeks before the Normandy invasion.
The image depicts a deserted street in Sighet's Jewish ghetto, after the Jews were deported from it to be exterminated at Auschwitz, in May 1944…
…just three weeks before the Normandy invasion. 41