James+and+Matt

= Night =
 * [[image:nightwiesel.jpg width="111" height="166"]]

Summary:** //Night// is about a child who grew up in a small town called Sighet, Transylvania. The boy's name was Eliezer Wiesel. //Night// summarizes Wiesel's memories of his first-hand experience with the Holocaust. Eliezer went from Auswitz to other camps and finally was liberated in Buchenwald. Through this experience Eliezer Wiesel has lost many beliefs and gained horrible, trechorous, and appauling memories.

__Eliezer__- is a teenage boy who is very religious, and has a strong faith in God. Through the memoir, Eliezer's faith is tested when he is a prisoner in the concentration camps. As the memoir progresses, Eliezer begins to show signs of losing his faith in God. Eliezer maintains his devotion to his father, which is important while they are being held in the working camps.
 * Characters:**

__Chlomo__ (Eliezer's father)- Chlomo is a respected figure amoung the Jewish community in Sighet. Chlomo is a strong figure who remains that way throughout the memoir. He contains his composure and his positive outlook and shares it with his son who looks up to his father. Thus, showing that Chlomo shows a great amount of honorability and showing good parenting skills.

__Moshe the Beadle__- who is a poor Jew who lives in Sighet. Moshe the Beadle gets sent to the concentration camps before all the other Jews, but eventually escapes, and returns to Sighet to warn the town what the Nazis are doing to the Jews. Except everyone thinks he is lunatic for tell them such a unbelievable situation.

__Madame Schaechter__- is a Jewish woman from Sighet who is in the same cattle car as Eliezer. Madame Schaechter is seen as a mad woman by the people in the cattle car because she has many nightmares where she sees fires. Everyone doubts her and secludes her. upon arrival at the camp they see a crematoria they finally realize that she had some instances of clairvoyance. Juliek- a yound musician whom Eliezer meets in Auschwitz. Juliek than appears once again late in the memoir. Eliezer hears him playing his music after his death march to Gleiwitz.

__Dr. Josef Mengele__- first is introduced at Auschwitz upon Eliezer's arrival. Dr. Josef Mengele was known for experiments on men and identical twins.

__Idek__- Eliezer's Kapo, which was a Jewish prisoner conscripted by the Nazis to police other prisoners, at the electrical equipment warehouse in Buna. During moments of insane rage Idek beats Eliezer.

__Franek__- Eliezer's foreman at Buna. Franek notices Eliezer's gold tooth and gets dentists in the camp to pry it out with a rusty spoon.

__Rabbi Eliahou__- a devout Jewish prisoner whose son abandons him in one of many ways in //Night// of a son behaving cruelly toward his father. Eliezer prays that he will never behave as Rabbi Eliahou's son behaves. This is what makes Eliezer's devotion to his father throughout the memoir.


 * Setting**:

The overall tone of this memoir is miserable, depressing, and heart-wrenching. The memoir begins in Sighet, Transylvania where Eliezer was born. After he is deported to Auschwitz/Birkinau which was located in Poland. From there Eliezer was transferred to Buna which is also located in Buna. After Buna, Eliezer was then sent to Gleiwitz which was another part of Poland annexed by Germany. From Gleiwitz to Buchenwald Eliezer and his father were forced to march from Gleiwitz in Poland to Buchenwald in Germany.


 * Symbols**:

Fire- is one of the symbols in the memoir, and it represents the Nazis power againts the Jews, and the destruction. Madame Schaechter has visions of fire, and also Eliezer sees babies getting burned in a ditch. The destruction part is when they are in the crematoria, where many meet their death at the hands of the Nazis.

Night- Night in the memoir is recognized as a religious symbol. Everytime Night is used in the memoir it is a point of the book where Eliezer expresses a moment when hope and faith are low. Also, the book was named Night because this was a moment in his own history that is very dark and depressing.

__The struggles to maintain faith-__** in the beginning of the memoir Eliezer's faith in a benevolent God is quite apparent. During the book Eliezer states "... I was alone-terribly alone in a world without God." That statement just shows how awful he feels and how he is losing his faith. As the memoir progresses and as more events occur which deeply scar him emotionally, Eliezer's faith begins to be tested. His faith becomes weaker and weaker. Throughout the book Eliezer becomes weary of the whole concept of a benevolent being.
 * Themes:


 * __Cruel and inhumane treatment-__** Night shows that cruelty only attracts more cruelty. This is demonstrated when the prisoners' responses to the circumstances in which they are living, the prisoners then take their frustration out on other prisoners. An example of the cruelty breeds more cruelty would be Eliezer's Kapo. His Kapo told Eliezer that everyman fights for themselves. The Kapo in the memoir is another symbol, which symoblizes the way the Holocaust cruelty bred cruelty in its victims, by turning people against each other as self-preservation became the highest priority. This being said, the Kapo was a Jewish prisoner who was chosen by the Nazis to keep the other prisoners in line and control their every move.


 * Book Critique:

James's Critique-** I really enjoyed reading the book. Although the topic and experiences that the author had gone through were sad and heart breaking. I honestly could not put this book down. I was always flipping through the pages to find out what happened next. I liked how Eliezer used "Night" to demonstrate times of dispair and the lowest points. The memoir also is so accurate and precise that I would often think to myself that the things that he had lived through must have been so mind blowing and so sad that all of his memories of the Holocaust are etched in his head perfectly. I was amazed at how Eliezer re-created the scenes and senses that he felt during the Holocaust. Again, I am glad that I read this book because it definatly opens your eyes and gives you more insight on how it really was to live through that horrific event. I would recommend this book to anyone.


 * Matt's Critique-** After reading Night, I thought it was a decent book. The reason I call it decent is because even though all the things the Nazis did to the Jews were bad, I already heard of the Holocaust so many times that it was old news to me. I thought the book was going to have more of a story line to it, but really the only story line to it was Eliezer just trying to maintain his faith, and trying to keep close with his father. Other wise, the book was good and at points a little strange which made it very interesting. To me the most interesting part about the book was wondering the whole time if Eliezer would live, and if his father would live. That part of the book always kept me wondering. I would recomend this book to other people because it is still a book that keeps you guessing, and wondering till the very end.


 * __External Link:__**
 * Elie Wiesel**