Discussion Questions For Night By Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel: Questions of Connections

Racing along the hard gravel path through the cold frigid night, nothing but yesterday's bread in your stomach, as hundreds of men trample you from behind. How will you keep going?

The Holocaust served as a never-ending test of survival, faith, and love for countless people. To keep these things up, they had to employ any means necessary. Most prisoners fought the need for these things rather than facing them. In Elie Wiesel's novel Night, readers are exposed to themes such as the question of God's existence, the value of a father-son relationship, and how easy it is to lose yourself in the face of fear and death. Along with doubts about God's existence, it is also illustrated his followers revolt when

Wiesel struggles to maintain his belief because he has witnessed the dark side of humanity. This is seen when he thinks, “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?(Wiesel 33). This takes place as the prisoners arrive at Birkenau and start to grasp the atrocities that are all around them. Realizing the reality of the place they’re stuck in, Wiesel starts to question his unwavering loyalty to God. Another example of Wiesel’s defiance of his religion is demonstrated when he thinks, “I no longer accepted God’s silence. As I swallowed my ration of soup, I turned that act into a symbol of rebellion, of protest against Him” (Wiesel 69). This occurs on Yom Kippur when Wiesel struggled with the decision of whether to fast or not. In the end, he chooses not to fast in defiance of God. Obviously, Wiesel must still have some faith in God, because he revolted against Him. However, after seeing that God did nothing to stop all the horrors Wiesel had seen, Wiesel refuses to acknowledge Him. Ultimately, after being taken from his home, he started to lose hope and his belief in God. Wiesel attempted to hold onto his trust in his loved ones after he lost confidence in

In this novel, Wiesel’s difficulties all stemmed from the Holocaust, and every element of his character changed as a result. One of the first things that changes about Wiesel’s identity, and probably one of the most prominent, was his name. This happens on page 42 when Wiesel says, “I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name”(Wiesel 42). This takes place after Wiesel arrives at Auschwitz, where his name is no longer in use. Prisoners had numbers tattooed onto their wrists and were always referred to by those numbers. This strips Wiesel of one of the biggest factors of someone's identity, their name. Up until it is taken away, people are unaware of the significance of something as basic as a name. Another form of losing yourself, shown as dehumanization, can be seen when someone has been through so much that they no longer act humanely. Considering how much the prisoners at the concentration camps went through, it's no surprise that they made irrational decisions. One of those many irrational decisions was when a son killed his father over a piece of bread. The novel states, “The old man mumbled something, groaned, and died. Nobody cared. His son searched him, took the crust of bread, and began to devour it”(Wiesel 101). This occurs as the inmates are being transported to another camp by rail, and the guards humorously throw a slice of bread into one of the cars. The inmates, as