In this excerpt, Eliezer observes the reaction of the Jews who are about to be deported from the ghetto after spending hours outside in the heat.
excerpt from Night by Elie Wiesel
There was joy—yes, joy. Perhaps they thought that God could have no torment in hell worse than that of sitting there among the bundles, in the middle of the road, beneath a blazing sun; that anything would be preferable to that.
How does Wiesel's experience as a Jew in the concentration camps influence his viewpoint in the excerpt?
Question 3 options:
He views the situation with bitter irony, as he knows that the people were going to meet a horrible fate.
He views the situation objectively, without emotion, as his experiences made him numb to other people's feelings
He views the situation nostalgically, as many of his friends from Sighet perished in the concentration camps.
He views the situation as comical, as he studied many examples of God's torment in sacred Jewish texts while he was in the concentration camps.
The correct answer is: He views the situation with bitter irony, as he knows that the people were going to meet a horrible fate.
In Elie Wiesel's Night, Mrs. Schachter, the "madwoman," repeatedly screams that she sees flames. When the train arrives at the concentration camp, the other Jews see that in this case she is right: they see the flames from the crematorium chimney.
What effect does this image have in the memoir?
Question 4 options:
The image develops the theme of human cruelty
It shows that the other prisoners are seeing visions, just as Mrs. Schachter is.
It proves Mrs. Schachter is not crazy, but someone to be believed
The flames symbolize the hell the Jews are about to enter and endure
The correct answer is: The flames symbolize the hell the Jews are about to enter and endure.
In Night, how does Wiesel capture the sense that he is robbed of his identity at Auschwitz?
Question 1 options:
He is made to renounce his father and his family.
He describes how his left arm is tattooed with "A-7713," which replaces his name.
He must wear clothes that make him feel like a stranger in a strange place.
He is forced to attend Christian religious services.
The correct answer is: He describes how his left arm is tattooed with "A-7713," which replaces his name.
In this excerpt, Eliezer hears his fellow inmates at Auschwitz reciting the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead.
Everybody around us was weeping. Someone began to recite Kaddish, the prayer for the dead. I don't know whether, during the history of the Jewish people, men have ever before recited Kaddish for themselves.
"Yisgadal, veyiskadash, shmey raba...May His name be celebrated and sanctified..." whispered my father.
For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?
Why does Eliezer have such a strong reaction to hearing the Kaddish at this moment?
Question 2 options:
Because the prayer never meant anything to him before, he cannot draw any comfort from hearing it now.
Because the prayer is said aloud, Eliezer cannot pay attention to the words of the SS officer, who is threatening him.
Because he is so afraid of dying, the prayer terrifies him and makes him think that his own death is imminent.
Because he was once so devoutly religious, the prayer makes him feel an acute sense of being abandoned by God.
The correct answer is: Because he was once so devoutly religious, the prayer makes him feel an acute sense of being abandoned by God.
In the evacuation scene in Night, Rabbi Eliahu's son purposely leaves him behind after loyally staying by his side for three years. How does this demonstration of the son's character convey a theme of this memoir?
Question 3 options:
The son's disloyalty shows that in the concentration camps, human decency was strained past the breaking point.
The son's dishonesty conveys the theme that in life-or-death situations, it is the selfish ones who survive.
The son's behavior highlights the theme that all human beings are sinners and must be forgiven.
The son's destructive choice demonstrates that all people carry secret hostile wishes against their loved ones.
The correct answer is: The son's disloyalty shows that in the concentration camps, human decency was strained past the breaking point.
Read this excerpt from Night by Elie Wiesel.
One day when I was able to get up, I decided to look at myself in the mirror…From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me.
What does this image from the excerpt mean?
Question 4 options:
The author sees the face of his dead father staring back at him.
The author is haunted by all the people that did survive the experience
The author realizes that he will soon die.
The author has been irreparably changed by his experience