Plot Overview

About the Author

Moshe the Beadle was the name of a poor, humble

guy who was loved by everyone. Even though Jews
of Sighet werent very fond of poor people, Moshe
the Beadle was an exception. Wiesel met Moshe
the Beadle when he was twelve toward the end of
1941. Since a long time ago, Wiesel wanted a
master to teach him about the studies of the
cabbala so he asked his father, but his father
refused. He was to young to study about that, but
he found his own master, Moshe the Beadle. One
day all foreign Jews of Sighet were expelled, Moshe
the Beadle was one of them, and put in a cattle all
crammed by the Hungarian police. Months passed
and Wiesel found Moshe the Beadle walking to the
synagogue. In there, Moshe the Beadle tells Wiesel
about the tragedy went through. Where foreign
Jews were made to dig their own gravel, babies
used as targets for machine guns, and a guy
begging to die before his kids. Wiesel couldnt
believe it, nor the Jews, they thought he only
wanted pity, but Moshe the Beadle only wanted the
Jews to listen to him so they could escape in time.
During Spring 1944 everything changed. German
army cars appeared and German officers stayed in
some of the Jews houses and they were polite and
kind, showing no cruelty. After the week of
passover, on the seventh day, Germans arrested
the leaders of the Jewish community and started
creating new laws. Decrees after decrees were
being made. Then came the ghettos were the Jews
were going to stay until the arrival of the Red Army.
Life was normal in ghettos. There were about
twenty people gathered on the back yard of
Wiesels house when a policeman called Wiesels
father for a meeting, but came back with bad news,
deportation. This was the change of life for the
Jews.

Elie Wiesel was born in Hungary in 1928. His father,

Shlomo, showed no emotions and was more
concerned about others than his own family. He had
three sisters: Hilda, the eldest, Bea, and his young
sister, Tzipora. His parents ran a shop in which
Hilda and Bea helped while he focused in school.
Wiesel wanted to find a master in Sighet to instruct
him in the Zohar, the cabbalistic books, the secrets
of Jewish mysticism, but couldnt until he met
Moshe the Beadle. Night is a book in which he
explains the occurrences of the Holocaust and his
experiences from when he was twelve until he was
released. In spring 1944, Germans showed their
true faces and started being strict with the Jews,
decrees after decrees were made. When Wiesel
was about fifteen, he was deported to Auschwitz
and then Buchenwald. Other books include: Dawn,
The Accident, and A Beggar in Jerusalem, the
winner of French Prix Medici in 1969.

Holocaust is the killing of millions of Jews and other

people by Hitler during World War II. The author of
Night is a Jew in which he tells his experiences in
the Holocaust. There are many theories as to why
Hitler disliked the Jews.

Men to the left! Women to the right! Eight

words spoken quietly, indifferently, without
emotion. Eight short, simple wordsTzipora
held Mother's hand. I saw them disappear
into the distance; my mother was stroking
my sister's fair hair ... and I did not know that
in that place, at that moment, I was parting
from my mother and Tzipora forever (27).
Pitch darkness. Every now and then, an
explosion in the night. They had orders to
fire on any who could not keep up. Their
fingers on the triggers, they did not deprive
themselves of this pleasure. If one of us had
stopped for a second, a sharp shot finished
off another near me, men were collapsing
in the dirty snow. Shots. (81).
Add Work Cited Here: Wiesel, Elie. Night. New
York: Hill and Wang, 1960. Print.

Character Analysis

Themes

Motifs and Symbols

Novel Notes
Night
By Elie Wiesel
Jennifer Lopez
March 23, 2016

Essential Quotes

Historical Context

Elie

Speech: One day I got in his way

his blows growing more and more

One significant theme was the cruelty of the

One important motif was Wiesels religious

violent, until I was covered in blood. As I

was biting my lips to stop myself from
screaming with pain (50).
Thoughts: Eliezer views the world as a
reflection of a benevolent God at the
beginning. Then throughout questions if
God exists and the worst depths of
suffering always accompanies Night in
Eliezers account.
Effects on other: Some love and others
envy him.
Action: He follows along with what he
was told to do.
Looks: He went to school.
Shlomo (Elies father)
Speech: Youre too young for that
You must first study the basic subjects
within your own understanding (2).
Thoughts: He has no emotions and
cares more about others than his own
family.
Effects on other: The Jewish community
in Sighet respected him.
Action: He is responsible, but when the
Holocaust happens, he cares about his
son.
Looks: He was a cultured and
unsentimental man.
Moshe the Beadle
Speech: You dont understand come
back to tell you the story of my death.
So that you could prepare yourselves
while there was still time (5).
Thoughts: He wants the Jews to escape
from the Germans so they dont have to
go through the same horror.
Effects on other: The Jews of Sighet
adored him before. When he appeared
again, after being taken away and
escaping, everyone felt pity for him.
Action: He was taken by the Hungarian
police and escaped. He tried to warn the
Jews so they could escape.
Looks: He was poor, awkward, and timid
with dreamy eyes and chanted.

prisoners to one another. In the novel, a son beats

up his own father in order to get the food from his
father. Another scene was when they were in a
train, everyone squeezed, and when they were
given bread, everyone would fight for food no
matter who it was. This shows how evil and cruel
everyone is capable of just that some show it more
than others.
Another theme was Eliezers struggle to maintain
faith in a benevolent God. In the beginning of the
story, he is taught that God is everywhere and
without him, they wouldnt exist. His faith on God is
pure and absolute. Throughout the book, he
questions where God is at and his faith starts
crumbling. He couldnt believe that a benevolent
God would let kids, babies, and many people get
killed and burned in the crematory. The
concentration map wasnt divine like it was
supposed to be since he was taught that since God
was divine, the world was, too. Night relates to the
biblical story of Abraham and Isaac because it
demonstrates the opposite point, that God remains
silent and uninvolved.
Eliezer tries to overcome the silence of the victims
of the Holocaust by telling his story. Never shall I
forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for
all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget
those moments which murdered my God and my
soul and turned my dreams to dust (32). Gods
silence is which most disturbed Elie. He wanted
God to be present and not allow this deaths to
happen, but he didnt appear. A young boy was
going to be hanged, but God did nothing.

observance. In the beginning, there was a lot of

religious talking. He mentions the Talmud, his
Jewish studies, and prayer rituals. He is upset that
the Nazis desecrate, treating a sacred place
violently, the Sabbath and his synagogue. By the
end of Night his religious talking diminish. In
addition, Eliezer does not mention the Kaddish by
name after his fathers death, and says that, There
were no prayers at his grave. No candles were lit in
his memory. His last word was my name (106).
One significant symbol was fire for different events
throughout the novel. Madame Schachter was the
name of a woman, about fifty, with a ten-year-old
son with her. Her husband and two eldest sons had
been taken first by mistake and this separation
destroyed her. They were in a cattle wagon. She
started screaming saying there was fire and
everyone believed her. Constantly through the ride
she kept screaming so everyone got annoyed by
her screaming. Young men tied her up, bagged her,
and even struck her, even other people encouraged
them, but she kept screaming. At last, when she
stopped screaming everyone in the cattle saw
outside and there was fire with a smell of burning
flesh (26). Fire that was either used to cook and
survive or in the crematory that would be used to
burn useless people.
Another remarkable symbol is the title of the novel,
Night. The night before they were taken to the
concentration map. When it's night, everything you
see is dark, darkness where God doesnt exist. A
God that wouldnt help the innocent being punished.