Analyzing Questions On Night And Day In Elie Wiesel's Night '

Night: Questions to Ponder
Directions: For each chapter of Night, you will complete chapter questions. Your answers must be typed. Answers that are more in depth, thoughtful, and inspiring will be awarded more points. If you want an A, you should answer these questions in lengthy paragraphs. Please make sure you give each question your utmost time and effort. For chapters with more than one question, choose 1 question to answer. Be sure to use textual evidence for all of your answers. Your answers to the questions will be due Friday, May 1.
Chapter 1
4. In the same way there is almost an obsessive quality to Wiesel’s description of night and day. What does this emphasize to the reader?
Wiesel utilizes obsessive descriptions of night and day

As the train reached their destination Elie felt that “the night was growing longer, never-ending” and as “a grayish light appeared on the horizon” nothing was left except a “tangle of human shapes… like a cemetery covered with snow” (Pg. 98). Wiesel utilizes a simile to compare the prisoners to a cemetery, enforcing the theme of death when correlated to the symbolic meaning of “Night.” Furthermore, the number of deaths that occurred during the night was substantial as “twenty corpses were thrown from [Elie’s] wagon” and when “the train resumed its journey” it left in its wake “hundreds of naked orphans without a tomb” (Pg. 99). Wiesel utilizes a common theme of objects when using figurative comparisons; usually objects associated with death such as a cemetery and a tomb. Elie also utilizes references to the soul, like a candle being snuffed out as, “the nights left in [their] souls the dregs of darkness” (Pg. 100). It becomes clear that Elie reinforces the symbolic meaning of “Night” by utilizing comparisons to objects correlated with

The prisoners, “had not eaten for nearly six days except for a few stalks of grass and some potato peels” and as a result, were on the verge of starvation. It can be expected that the prisoners would not think of revenge purely because of their desire to eat. In fact, their desire to eat was so strong that their “first act as free men, was to throw themselves onto the provisions… no thought of revenge… only of bread” (Pg. 115). This scene immaculately portrays how the Jews were robbed of their basic needs, such as sustenance; and as a result, did not think about either their parents or revenge. Furthermore, “even when [they] were no longer hungry, not one of [them] thought of revenge… a few men ran into Weimar to bring back some potatoes and clothes… but still no trace of revenge” Even clothes were robbed from the Jews, showing how even the basic requirements of clothing were stripped from them. It is obvious that Jews did not think of revenge because they were trying to restore their basic needs. And even after “two weeks of life and death… [Elie] decided to look at [himself] in the mirror… and from the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating [him]” (Pg. 115). This powerful final image of Elie is an excellent description to portray how decrepit his bodily and mental state was, even after 2 weeks of recuperation. It becomes clear that the prisoners did not