Night Questions

1. Where is Wiesel's childhood home? Locate the country on a map. ~Wiesel’s childhood home is located in the center of Romania near the Transylvanian Mountains.

2. Wiesel opens Night by relating his youthful desire to study the cabala. What is the cabala? ~The cabala is a body of mystical teachings of rabbinical origin, often based on an esoteric interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures.

3. Wiesel says that when he was young, he wanted to study the cabala in order to know the truths of this world. What kinds of truths is he referring to? After you complete Night, return to this question: what kinds of truth was the young Elie ignorant of? ~When Elie was young he wanted to learn the religious truths of God and life; because of his naïveté, Elie was ignorant of the evil of the world and the hardships that can so easily occur.

4. Why is Moshe the Beadle a significant character? What does he tell Elie about answers, questions, and the truth? After you complete Night, return to this question: why was Moshe prescient in his admonition to Elie? ~Moshe the Beadle is significant because he instills religious faith and practice into Elie when he’s young, which provides a basis for his cynicism and loss of faith when he gets older.

5. Why do the people of Sighet ignore Moshe after he returns from his escape? Why don't they listen to him? ~The people of Sighet thought Moshe was insane, especially because the German officers that surrounded them seemed so peaceful and harmless, and Moshe’s stories were of death and suffering.

6. Who is Madame Schachter? In what ways is she similar to Moshe the Beadle? ~Madame Schachter was the woman who claimed she smelled smoke on the way to the concentration camp; she is similar to Moshe the Beadle because she tried to warn the people, and yet they would not listen to her.

7. Consider this passage on pg. 32:Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desires to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God himself. Never. ~In this passage, Elie is explaining the significance of night, and how his world was turned upside down because of his experiences.

8. What is the context of this passage? How has the young Elie's theology changed? As you continue reading, ask yourself how this passage speaks to the rest of Night. ~Elie no longer really has any faith in God, and is beginning to feel cynical towards religion, which sets the tone for the rest of the novel.

9. How does Elie's understanding of God and God's presence—or absence— continue to change throughout Night? When is he most angry with God? When is not angry at all? ~Throughout the novel, Elie becomes more and more aware of the lack of presence of God in a place of such suffering, and goes from a boy that is willing to devote his entire life to God to a man that no longer has any faith in religion or God. Elie is his angriest with God when others are praying to him and yet receiving no answers, but is almost always angry with him.

10. What literal and figurative (symbolic or metaphorical) meanings does night have in Night? ~Night represents the loss of innocence of the Jews when plunged into the darkness and unknown that was the concentration camps. Night also represents the lack of God’s presence in a dark time of fear and isolation.

11. Why do you think Night is such a slim book? Surely Wiesel could have included much more detail. ~Night is a slim book because Wiesel wanted to concentrate on the main aspects and significance of his experience, rather than the minor details.

12. Is Night a memoir of tragedy or triumph? Can it be both? If so, why? If not, why not? ~Night is both a memoir of tragedy and triumph because the things Wiesel went through were things that no living thing should ever experience, not to mention the fact that Wiesel’s faith in God completely diminished. However, the memoir may also be a triumph because Wiesel escaped and is still alive and healthy to this very day.