Night --> Theme

One night can be the ending of so many things, and the beginning of so much more.


Throughout the story Elie constantly refers back to the word "night" right before he is to describe another horrid thing that occured in these camps. Not to mention that "Night" has to have some significance if Elie choose that for the title of his first book. Night is repetitive to display the presence of night, the darkness, the eerie feeling, the animals and insects that come out. The terrifying screams of the night, those who go missing in the night, those who never awake after one night, the resting of the sun and people while others are busy at work trying to kill. Night can be referenced to almost anything related to the Holocaust. The word night is rarely ever analyzed, and I believe that if we did so, we would find that so many of the things we used to describe it, are similar to those of the horrors of this genocide.

Night - Chapter 3 --> Writing Prompt

1. Paint a picture of the concentration camp using the images that have been described to you through the eyes of Elie. In other words, describe the concentration camp using specific examples.


Concentration Camps:

-the concentration camp has a smell of death that encompasses the whole place, and you are overwhelmed by its presence when you first arrive.
-Dr Mengele = in charge of the selection process
-sky hazy with smoke
-flames = crematoriums
-transformation in the prison garb
-gray and dark
-peoples faces turning into ash
-babies thrown into the flame
-nocturnal silence



Dehumanization:

-shave their heads
-all expected to wear prison garb
-made to stand in the mud
-tattooed numbers = lost name
-removed objects from people
-people were treated as objects = only of use for work
-detached from family
-make prisoners run = to be overocome by fatigue and cause loss of thought and sense of care
-had to deal with death themselves



Stein of Antwerp:

-Family member
-wanted to know if his family was okay [wife and children]
-elie lies saying that they are okay
-stein eventually dies because of loss of hope [finds out truth of death of family]