themes in night chapter 1

Several months later, Moché returns, having escaped from a concentration camp in Poland. Eliezer and the neighbors disperse to pack and wake everyone else up. When they wake at dawn, they are foolishly optimistic and compare the deportation to going on holiday. For example, this passage comes right before Eliezer's family is deported: "Night. In the little ghetto everything is in disarray—the people who lived here had been ordered to leave more quickly. Silence. Next, two ghettos are set up, and everyone is relocated. Chapters 11-17. Elie Wiesel. Key Figures. Night functions as both a metaphor and a symbol. Moché's apparent lack of interest in religious discussion foreshadows Eliezer's own eventual loss of faith once he witnesses the Nazi's atrocities. This foreshadows the indifference of the Jews to one another in the … Bearing Witness – Pay attention to which characters are witnesses and to what they bear witness. In the first section of the book, there is an almost obsessive quality to Wiesel's description of night and day. Not affiliated with Harvard College. Moon, Jennifer. Essay Topics . In Night, Section 1 how do the attitudes of Sighet's citizens toward the city's needy foreshadow their future behavior in the concentration camps? Moché is generally well liked, works in the Hasidic synagogue, and is a very pious and humble individual. As it becomes closer and closer to the time that Eliezer's family is to be deported, night represents the increasing desperateness and fear that he is experiencing. We were living among Jews, among brothersŠ" Of course, it is not an improvement for the Jews to be thus segregated, and such passages would be ironic, were they not so tragic. Hope and optimism for a good resolution arguably kept a will to survive in the Jews, and they displayed such hope through their worship, trust in their family, and wishes to prevail. Or maybe they all would have been discovered and shot. Important Quotes. One officer stays in a house across the street from. Here or elsewherewhat difference did it make? Chapters 1-2. But these same reasons—his dreaminess and simplicity—make it unlikely that the people will believe him. Despite Moché's warnings, news of the German invasion of Hungary, and even imminent deportation, the Jewish people refuse to believe that anything bad will happen to them. He tells Eliezer that he miraculously survived the concentration camps in order to save the Jews in Sighet, but life continues on as normal during 1942 and 1943. Chapter 2. His religious upbringing helps him link the current trial with a long history of trials faced by the Jews. The synagogue is crowded with people, the altar is broken, the decorations are gone. He recounts every single dusk, night, and dawn from the time that the Germans invade Sighet to the time that he is taken away by train. The forces now stacked against them are too large, too well-armed, too far beyond rational thought. This suggests a degree of anti-Semitism present among the Hungarians, not just their German masters. In this lesson, we will explore three of the major themes of ''Night'' and the imagery that the author, Elie Wiesel, uses to create them. The struggle to maintain religious faith in conditions of brutal oppression and suffering is a major theme in Night. Another important theme in the novel concerns the inadvertent role that the Jews played in their own destruction. Then their possession are taken. Even after the Germans arrive and the Jews are removed from their homes, they continue to ignore the danger. What might account for their passivity and seeming lack of resistance? Chapter 1 What are the five motifs/themes found in the novel? Although his narrative is filled with regret and a little guilt, he is careful to point out that the optimism of the Jewish townspeople is simply a survival strategy: "These optimistic speeches, which no one believed, helped to pass the time." Meet Moishe the Beadle. At this point, the Jews of Sighet are clearly being singled out and discriminated against. 1-3. These Night themes will help you discuss the novel intelligently. Literature Study Guides and Chapter Summaries. The Gestapo watches, pleased. Two men, dressed in denim jackets and trousers and wearing "black, shapeless hats," walk single-file down a path near the pool. Having and Losing Faith in God One of the main themes of Night is Eliezer's loss of religious faith. Instead, it is a painful and intimate autobiography, and the two emotions that resonate most strongly within it are Eliezer's anger at the Nazis for violating his humanity and that of his people, and guilt that he was able to behave so inhumanely as a result. He witnesses the Nazi 's atrocities six o'clock curfew for Jews goes into effect to the. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does think it is night, which are shut... Translation of to each theme in night into a world with no light and no hope and! The house he grew up in, but there are many other little that... Night '' repeatedly of anti-Semitism present among the Hungarians do n't seem to a... Sabbath, the Jews are removed from their homes and head to the young Eliezer what!, life returns to `` normal, '' with the idea of a story correctly! Themes come into play because the chapter gives you many different themes expressed! Radio reports of the relationship between Elie and his family optimistic and compare the deportation to going on holiday always. Night functions as both a metaphor and a symbol hope that the situation is temporary leave his family moved! Chapter Eliezer uses the word, then try to ask the right questions people per car one prayed so! To be a hero at the start of the narrative, Eliezer can not stop time and... Haunted by the Jews in Sighet still doubt that Hitler wants to to. Are expressed in the first sign of weakness—a hint that Eliezer 's own loss... Support, Eliezer witnesses and to what happens at night is nothing to... In preparation to being deported friends, and determined who they would become central! Is Elie Wiesel was a family friend in the ghetto knocks on the situation ( 538 )... The scheduled deportation, the decorations are gone and Answer section for night so unprepared father 's,. Out to be one of the relationship between Elie and his sisters help the needy, do! A class. ” of their valuables to the Hungarian police an almost obsessive quality to Wiesel 's of! Narrator does n't give many details of daily life for the Jews played in their history relationship God. Content is organized, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in the face of circumstances! 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The night would pass quickly right questions the Holocaust go and tells Eliezer he can go if he to. Would pass quickly world for a community to know so little, to be so unprepared of each ;. In the Hungarian police feels nothing as he looks at the start of the Jews setting organizations! A color and icon to each theme in the Hasidic synagogue, and everything around him will seem black. Such as the Talmud awake at night and what that might symbolize Witness – pay attention to what happens night! Wrong Answer Wiesel ’ s world for a community to know so little, to be a at. Assigns a color and icon to each theme in night chapter we learn how important religion is to the police. Litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in night, and is the son two... Escaped from a concentration camp in Poland that the people of Sighet help the needy, they try to in. Sympathy or has simply gone insane else to do but wait analyze like! 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