Night Journal
Night Journal: Section 1
Picture It Method
Prediction: I think the first section is going to have them getting transported to whatever camp they get sent to.
Prediction: I think the first section is going to have them getting transported to whatever camp they get sent to.
Imagine: The Jews yellow star on their clothing that all the Jews had to wear so the officers could recognize them easily and right away.
http://www.distanttrain.com/dt_material/afc/af_life/gifs/stars.gif
Imagine: People with a lot of suitcases and bundles when the Jews and Elie's family was leaving their houses and the ghetto behind.
http://ww2today.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Bundesarchiv_R_49_Bild-1311_Ghetto_Litzmannstadt_Deportation.jpg
Try:
-Why aren't the Germans taking away the Jews yet? -Why and where are they being deported? -Why wouldn't the father take the safe refuge offer? |
Imagine: It was their last friday night meal with bread and wine that they usually have every friday.
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs6/i/2005/018/1/f/Bread_and_Wine_by_Keriberrygirl.jpg
Clarify:
-I realized that during Passover, the Germans started to arrest the Jews and then the Jews finally began worrying. -His father dies later on in the book. -They live in Transylvania. Use:
Having no food: I've once gone a day without food for a charity thing in youth group. That's definitely not as long as all these people have gone though. Feeling weak: I have felt weak a lot especially when I try to pick stuff up that are way too heavy. Unable to fall asleep: Just like they are unable to fall asleep on the train, I can't fall asleep on any moving vehicle. |
Summarize: It starts off with introducing Elie and his Jewish family. He is studying his religion with Moshe the Beadle. Then Moshe gets deported but comes back months later with horrifying stories of what the Gestapo did. No one believes him and they think he's crazy. A year later the Jews are sent to live in small ghettos by the Hungarian police. Later the Hungarian police send them over to the Nazi's and the Nazi's make them leave all their belongings. They got packed by 100 in a train car and they went on their way to a concentration camp.
Night Journal: Section 2
Picture It Method
Prediction: I think all the Jews are going to arrive at the concentration camp and realize that it's not what they thought it was.
Prediction: I think all the Jews are going to arrive at the concentration camp and realize that it's not what they thought it was.
Imagine: The fire in the giant pit where they were throwing the babies in.
http://img.cz.prg.cmestatic.com/media/images/original/Mar2012/957346.jpg?d41d
Clarify:
-The air smelled like burning flesh when they were walking into the camp because they were throwing kids and babies into a fire. -The concentration camp that they arrived at was Auschwitz. Try:
-Why is Madame seeing imaginary flames outside the train? -Why would the other people in the train hit the Madame to make her be quiet? Couldn't they do nicer things to make her be quiet? |
Imagine: The flames in the chimney from the crematory.
http://janewheeler.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/chimney-flame.jpg
Use:
Unbearable heat: When the Jews and Elie were standing for role call and counting the heat was unbearable. Sometimes in the summer here the heat is too much. The heat is bad when it hits over 100 degrees and I would never be able to stand in it for as long as they did. |
Review and Summarize: Elie and his family and the rest of the Jews ride the train to Auschwitz. In the train, there are 80 people crammed to one car. One of the Jews, Madame Schachter goes crazy and yells "Fire! I see a fire!". They make her be quiet by tying her up and hitting her because she won't stop screaming. They arrive to Auschwitz and they all smell burning flesh and seeing flames from a chimney.
Night Journal: Section 3
Picture it Method:
Prediction: I think his family will get split up and they will realize they came here to work and die. They will go through process of getting their number tattooed, shaving their heads and changing their clothes.
Prediction: I think his family will get split up and they will realize they came here to work and die. They will go through process of getting their number tattooed, shaving their heads and changing their clothes.
Imagine: The pile of clothes that was made when the men had to take off their clothes in the barracks.
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/hol-pix/ausch-lib5.jpg
Imagine: The number on the prisoner's arms that they put to keep track of them and that is their name now.
|
Imagine: The barbed wire that was around the camp.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/images/MBauschwitz/P7300067.jpg
Clarify:
- From being in this concentration camp, Elie questions god. - The polish guy, the prisoner in charge, is a veteran prisoner. Use:
When Elie was going through the selection process he was teeth chattering nervous. I have been teeth chattering nervous a couple times. I especially am that nervous when I have a big presentation coming up or before a soccer game. When all the prisoners had to strip, it was shivering cold out. In this state it gets really cold in the winter time. One time it was freezing out and the power went off for a day so we had to bundle up and it was still cold. Try:
-Why did Elie's father say "Remember Madame Schachter"? -Where did Elie's mom and sister go? Did they get sent right to the gas chambers or did they last awhile? -Why did Elie lie to Stein about his family being okay? |
Review and Summarize: Elie and his father go through the selection process really fast and was sent to Auschwitz from Birkenau. There, they stayed for many days getting small portions of food for lunch, talking with other prisoners and sleeping. They meet Stein, a relative that wonders if the rest of his family is okay. Elie lies to him and says that his family is okay but he really doesn't know. Since they don't see Stein later on, they figure that he dies. They have to stay strong so when they go through the selection process again they won't get sent to the crematory. After a few days some prisoners including Elie and his father get sent to Buna to start labor working.
Night Journal: Section 4
Prediction: I think Elie and his father start doing labor work and they will see many friends of them die.
Imagine: Gold Teeth. The doctor would take out all the gold teeth and crowns that the prisoners have so they can sell it.
|
Clarify:
-Prisoners shouldn't be transferred to the building unit, it's bad. -Elie see's the French girl he works with later awhile after the war ends. -The officers actually rape some of the children in the camps, Elie walked into a room when a officer was raping a young girl. Try:
-Why did the officers hang the young prisoner? -Why do they make all the prisoners watch the officers kill the people? -How could anyone be that cruel and rape young girls and boys? Use:
Whip marks. Elie got in trouble when he walked into a room when a officer was raping a little girl. Later he got whipped on his back as his punishment. Reminds me of the Hunger Games when Gale gets in trouble with the Peacemakers and he got the same punishment. He got whipped many times on his back in front of everyone as did Elie. |
Review and Summarize: Elie and his father now work in an electrical warehouse. The head of the warehouse is Idek. While being at this camp, Elie makes friends with two little boys called Yossi and Tibi. Furthermore the doctors have to take out all the gold crowns and teeth that the prisoners have in their mouths. That worries Elie because he has a gold crown in. He makes excuses to the doctor but eventually a prisoner comes up to him and makes him take it out. Later on, Idek, beats up Elie's father when he was working slowly and punishes Elie. Elie peaked in Idek's room when Idek was raping a little girl. He punishes Elie with 30 whips on the back and Elie can't tell anyone what he saw. Overall this chapter was very sick and disturbing.
Night Journal: Section 5
Prediction: I think a few months will go by in the camp and Elie begins to resent life and the Nazi's. Also more people that he gets close to will die.
Imagine: The old knife and spoon that Elie's father gives Elie before the selection process because his father thought his number would get written down so he would be sent to the crematory.
Clarify:
-Elie doesn't really believe in God anymore because he thinks God is at fault for what is happening. -The person in charge of Elie's block does feel bad for people and is nice because he gives Elie less work when Elie feels like his father isn't going to make it through the selection process. -If Elie and his father stayed at the hospital and didn't march to another camp, they would've been saved by the Russians three days later. |
Imagine: The heavy snow that was falling down when they were working outside handling the stone blocks.
Try:
-Why are the veteran prisoners so mean to the rest? -Why would Elie wait awhile to get his foot operation done and not get it done right away? Hasn't he learned not to wait for stuff to come to him? -Why would the head of the block want the freeing army to think men lived here and not pigs? Use:
"Don't be afraid." The doctor tells Elie not to be afraid because he needs a foot operation. I get told that before I watch scary things like movies and videos. Evacuation. All the prisoners had to evacuate the camp because the Russians were coming to free them. Evacuation makes me think of a fire drill because we have to evacuate the school. |
Review and Summarize: As the months go by Elie and his father continue to live on in the camp. They get split into different blocks because and now its the Jewish New Year. The New Year is almost over and Elie still doesn't believe in Gods strength anymore. Another selection process happens and his father is almost taken to the gas chambers but ends up staying. When winter comes around the Russian army is advancing so they have to march in the freezing cold and snow to another camp. Elie's foot just had operation on it because it has injured so he as trouble walking.
Night Journal: Section 6
Prediction: I think most of the prisoners will die while marching and his father will get very weak and/or die.
Imagine: A skeletal body. Elie was dragging his skeletal body that weighed so much when he was running.
Imagine: Some thick and huge snowflakes. When all the prisoners were running it was snowing really thick and big snowflakes.
|
Imagine: A tidal wave. When there would be a tidal wave of men rolling on top of him if he stopped running.
Clarify:
-In just one night, the prisoners and the SS officers ran 42 miles to a ghost town. -The new concentration camp that they are heading too is called Gleiwitz. -Elie's father and him stay alive from the selection process because of confusion. Try:
-Where are the SS officers when they at the ghost town? -How does Elie not have hypothermia? -How did Juliek die? -Where is Elie's father when they were running? Were they by each other? Use:
Darkness. When all the prisoners were running it was night so it was complete darkness. I sleep in complete darkness at night. I can't have a lot of lights shinning when I sleep or else I can't sleep. Trampling. When all the prisoners were running some couldn't keep so they would get trampled. One time, when I was little I was trampled by a pretty big boy and I was tiny. We were playing tee ball and I guess I got up and didn't even cry and just went on with the game. |
Review and Summarize: Elie and the rest of the prisoners run on to Gleiwitz. Many die including some of Elie's friends and they all grow weak because of the conditions. They run 42 miles to a ghost town and stop for a night to rest. While resting, many people don't wake up and Elie had to make sure his father would wake up. In the morning the rest run the rest of the way to the camp. When arriving there was another selection process, the weak go to left. It was his fathers turn and they send him to the left, Elie runs after him. That makes a commotion and the guards get confused on who they actually sent to the left. They end up taking Elie and his father to the right. After the process they put all the remaining prisoners on a carriage and send them to a new camp.
Night Journal: Section 7
Prediction: They will some struggles on the ride to a new camp because of the conditions of how cold and snowy it is. I feel like even more people will die but Elie will make it.
Imagine: A sack of flour. The carriage would stop every once and awhile and make the strong people throw out the dead like sacks of flour to make more room.
Clarify:
-The people on the carriage are officially going crazy by stealing clothes and fighting over a loaf of bread. Also by a son killing his own father over a piece of bread when his father was going to give some to him. -The concentration camp they are headed to is Buchenwald. |
Imagine: Crying. Elie was crying when he was trying to get the people to stop stealing his fathers clothes and throw him off the carriage.
Try:
-Who was strangling Elie? Why was someone strangling Elie? -Why would a son kill his father over something so tiny? Use:
Animals fighting over food. The people in Elie's carriage would go crazy and fight over a loaf of bread that someone would throw into the carriage. They didn't care who or where they were hitting as long as they got the food. It reminded me of animals fighting over food and how they fight. Crying. All of a sudden everyone in the carriage wouldn't stop crying. One person started the crying and more people added on until everyone was crying. That reminded me of when I helped out in a daycare and if one baby started crying, all the others would start because of the loud noise. |
Review and Summarize: They are on their way to another concentration camp. It is a 10 day trip in which many die because of the harsh conditions with the snow and no food. When they would go through a village people would throw bread into the wagon and everyone would fight to the death over it. The prisoners are going crazy and one even tried to strangle Elie. They arrive to Buchenwald and thankfully Elie and his father are strong enough to walk out.
Night Journal: Section 8
Prediction: Since his father is very weak and ill, he won't make it through the night and get sent to the crematory.
Imagine: Black coffee. In the mornings the prisoners get black coffee for breakfast.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l1jduxUL5F1qaekuto1_400.jpg
Clarify:
-People say that Elie shouldn't be helping his father and Elie should be taking his fathers rations. Use:
Exhaustion. Elie's father was exhausted because he is weak and dying. I have been exhausted many times before especially after a long day or a sports practice. |
Imagine: A piece of bread. The prisoners get a ration of bread for lunch and dinner.
http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18ixekw72bmohjpg/original.jpg
Try:
-How could Elie think of his father as dead weight? -How could people beat a ill/dying man? -Why didn't Elie cry when his father died? |
Review and Summarize: They arrive to Buchenwald and his father is very weak and ill. Elie pleads everyone and anyone to help his father, Elie even gives his father his own portions of food. But people say that Elie should be taking his fathers portions not giving his father his own. One night Elie goes to sleep and wakes up to find his father's bed taken by another person. That's when he knew his father died but he didn't shed a tear.
Night Journal: Section 9
Prediction: Elie and the remaining prisoners will be saved from Buchenwald but he will never be the same after this.
Clarify:
-Elie had no feeling after his fathers death. -The Jewish camp resistance saves the remaining prisoners from being shot and fought and evacuated all the Nazi's from the camp. |
Try:
-Did the children in Elie's block not get rations of food before evacuation? Use:
Hunger. Elie and the children in his block didn't eat for 10 days. I couldn't imagine that because if i miss one meal I get very hungry. |
Review and Summarize: After his fathers death he didn't feel or eat anything. As the end comes closer more and more prisoners leave the gate and don't come back. Furthermore the Jewish camp resistance saves the remaining prisoners by driving the Nazi's out of the camp. Then on April 10th the Americans come to the camp and rescues them. Elie will never forget his memories he made and how he looked after he was saved.
Plot Diagram
A.
- Introduces Elie and his family including his mom, dad and sister. They are a Jewish family and live in Sighet, Transylvania.
- Elie studies his religion with Moshe the Beadle.
- Moshe gets deported but then escapes and returns with horrifying experiences with the Gestapo. But no body believes him, the town thinks his crazy.
- A year later, the Jews are forced into small ghettos still within Sighet.
- The Nazi's take over and all of the people occupying the ghetto cram into train cars and get sent to Birkenau, Auschwitz.
- When arrived, Elie and his father get separated from his mom and sister whom they never see again.
- They go through the selection process and get shaved, tattooed a number and new clothes.
- Some Jews march to Auschwitz from Birkenau then to Buna.
- They start working in an electrical warehouse. The Kapo (head) is Idek.
- More selection processes happen where they keep the strong and send the weak to the crematory.
- Elie had trouble with his faith in God.
- Elie is forced to take out his gold crown to give to another prisoner.
- Months go on, they are forced to watch prisoners get hanged including a little boy.
- Elie's father gets beaten by Idek because he isn't working fast enough. Elie blames it on his father and is mad at him.
- Elie peaks in Idek's room, he is raping a little girl and Elie gets punished.
- People turn cruel and crazy.
- Elie has to get an operation for his foot.
- Right after his operation, the Nazi's evacuate camp because the Russians are advancing.
- They run 50 miles to Gleiwitz, Many die because of the harsh conditions.
- The remaining are herded into a carriage to another camp.
- When arriving to Buuchenwald, only 12 out of 100 make it through the ride. Elie and his father are still alive.
- Father grows ill and weak from the conditions and physical abuse.
- Elie wakes up and finds his father is dead.
- Camp resistance runs the Nazi's out of the camp.
- Elie can't feel or eat anything since his father died.
- April 11, 1945 some American troops frees the camp.
Motiffs and Themes
Motiffs:
-Religion: He constantly questions his god and religion. His father still believes God will get them through but Elie doesn't think so. -Death: There is death all around him. Everyday Elie seems to loose somebody that he cares about. Many people die everyday and the prisoners have to watch some people die from the hanging. -Silence: They have to keep quiet or else bad things will happen. Just like Elie had to keep what Idek did to that little girl a secret or else he would get punished very badly or even be killed. |
Themes:
-Struggle with Faith: As the book goes on, Elie finds that believing in his God is hard to do. After he see's all hes seen, he thinks that God would've done something to stop it earlier. He is angry with his faith in God because he thinks that he doesn't exist. -Inhumanity: After Elie sees all these cruel things being done, he can't think of what happens outside his camp. The Nazi's kill and beat these prisoners in very inhumane ways. Elie thinks war brings out the inhumane characteristic in everyone. Even he was thinking cruelly. This war turned people against each other and thinks cruelty breeds cruelty. |
Characterization
Eliezer:
-15, Jewish -Has a father, mother and a sister -At first believes very strongly in God but during the Holocaust his faith decreases. -Protagonist -Author of Night, Writes in first-person -Devoted to his father Idek:
-Head of the Electrical Warehouse -Rude -Beats Elie and his father -Kapo |
Eliezer's Father:
-Jewish, respected among the community -His son looks up to him -Believes in the best in people -Name is Shlomo -Depends on Elie for support -Stays with Elie with everything that happens -Grows weak and ill in the end and dies Moshe the Beadle:
-Teaches Elie Jewish mysticism -Poor Jew -Deported before the rest were but escaped and told everyone whats going to happen but no one believes him |
Symbols/Symbolism, Mood and Tone
Symbols:
-Night: In this book everything bad happened mostly at night. Plus in the Bible the earth was dark without Gods presences. So at night the suffering was the worst with because Elie didn't have Gods presences anymore. -Bell: The bell always rang when the selection process would happen and the selection process means death. |
Mood:
-Sad: I was sad while reading this book because of all the cruel and disturbing stuff happening. At one point when Elie had to watch some prisoners get hung I almost started crying. |
Tone:
-Mournful: He mourns over the loss of his family, childhood and his faith in God. He is also sad because he thinks he could of been a better son. -Serious: He is incredibly honest with his memories and doesn't leave out the parts that he feels guilty about. |