Night- Eli Wiesel
Verbal Irony
A character says one thing but really means the opposite. (essentially sarcasm)
Madame Schacter
A fifty year old deportee who has hallucinations of "fire and furnace" while traveling on the train. Was treated poorly on trains and eventually left to die.
Moshe The Beadle
A poor and lonely religious man. He tells terrifying takes about the condition of the Jews in concentration camps, which Elie and the villagers find hard to believe.
Prejudice
A preconceived opinion that isn't based on actual experience or reason against or for something
Kapo
A prisoner in caps who is in charge of something
Stein of Antwerp
A relative who meets Elie and his father at Auschwitz. He is worried about his wife Reizel and his sons. Elie cheers him up by telling him the lie that his mother has been receiving letters from Stein's wife, though it is not true.
Akiba Drumer
A singer with a deep voice who has strong faith in God; he dies in the concentration camp after losing hope in God; no one prays Kaddish for him.
External Conflict
A struggle that occurs between a character an an outside force
Internal Conflict
A struggle within the mind of a character. Can be either mental or emotional.
Stereotype
Common assumption about a group of people
Summary (I recommend you also read some online and your own questions but here anyways) Shmoop was my source
Despite warnings about German intentions towards Jews, Eliezer's family and the other Jews in the small Transylvanian town of Sighet (now in modern-day Romania) fail to flee the country when they have a chance. As a result, the entire Jewish population is sent to concentration camps. There, in a camp called Auschwitz, Eliezer is separated from his mother and younger sister, but remains with his father. As Eliezer struggles to survive against starvation and abuse, he also grapples with the destruction of his faith in God's justice and battles with the darker sides of himself. Forced into a desperate situation, Eliezer feels a conflict between supporting his ever weakening father and giving himself the best chance of survival. Over the course of the book, Eliezer and his father are sent from Auschwitz to a new concentration camp called Buna and then, as the Allies (the British and American troops) approach, deeper into Germany, to Buchenwald. A few months before the concentration camps are liberated by Allied soldiers, Eliezer's father dies. Though Eliezer survives the concentration camps, he leaves behind his own innocence and is haunted by the death and violence he has witnessed.
(Upon arriving at Aushcwitz) "Confidence soared. Suddenly we felt free of the previous night's terror. We gave thanks to God."
Dramatic Irony because again, we know that it is going to get much worse, but they seem to feel confident and relieved.
(When the Jews were being evacuated from their ghettos) "At last, at one o'clock in the afternoon came the signal to leave. There was joy, yes, joy. People must have thought there could be no greater torment in God's hell than that of being stranded here, on the sidewalk, among the bundles, in the middle of the street under a blazing sun. Anything seemed prefer to that.
Dramatic Irony because they believe that leaving the ghettos is a good thing , but we all know that it will only get worse from then.
"The yellow start? So what, we know it's not lethal."
Dramatic Irony because we know that the stars will lead to death in concentration camps, but the Jews believe that it's harmless.
Holocaust
During WW II, the genocide of the Jews in Europe by Hitler and the Nazi Germans
Examples of Internal Conflicts in Night
Eli loses his faith in god. His mother, sister and father also pass away, which causes mental grieve.
Shlomo Wiesel (Eli's Father)
Elie's father. He is a considerate and religious man and shopkeeper who is respected by the villagers. He is arrested along with his son and imprisoned in a concentration camp, where he eventually dies.
Madame Wiesel
Elie's mother. She is a loving person who cares for her family and who works to infuse courage in others.
Hilda
Elie's oldest sister, who works in the family grocery store. She is arrested and deported to a concentration camp. Like her brother, she manages to survive the experience.
Tziporah
Elie's younger sister, who does not survive the concentration camp. She gives an impression of both innocence and stoicism.
Gestapo
German secret Nazi police
Genocide
Mass murder (specific group of people)
S.S.
Military part of the Nazis
Nazi
National Socialist German Workers Party
Dr. Mengele
Nazi doctor who makes decisions on the selection.
On the test we have to write about one of Eli's quote from the passage on pages 7-8 in the book I chose this one: "The only way to stop the next holocaust...is to remember the last one. If the Jews were singled out then, in the next one we are all the victims."
Only with the knowledge of the holocaust, can we prevent another one from happening. We can't correct our wrongdoings without remembering what went wrong the last time around. Everyone should be aware of what happened, so that we not only know what terrible pain and suffering people went through, but we can do our best to prevent anything like this again. If we were to forget and let it all happen again, all of us would be the victims.
Scapegoat
Person or people who is/are blamed for the wrongdoings of others
Antisemitism
Prejudice against Jews
"After the war, I learned the fate of those who remained at the infirmary (that Eli and his father chose to leave). They were quite simply, liberated by the Russians, two days after the evacuation."
Situational Iron- We would expect them to be killed as did Eli and his father.
Examples of External Conflicts in Night
Tattoos, shaving their heads, physically hurting them, starvation and forcing them to work.
Eli Wiesel
The narrator, protagonist, and main character. Since he is a Jewish teenager living in Romania during Hitler's reign, he is persecuted and imprisoned. The book deeply explains his experiences throughout the war.
Dramatic Irony
This occurs when the reader or audience understands more about the events of a story than a character.
Situational Irony
This occurs when what actually happens is the opposite of what is expected or appropriate.
(When describing their forced evacuation) "They just want to steal or valuables and jewelry. They know that it has been buried and that they will have to dig yo find it; so much easier to do when the owners are on vacation. On Vacation!"
Verbal Irony- Sarcasm
(Describing the sign over the gate at Auschwitz): "This one had an iron gate with the overhead inscription: ARBEIT MACHT FREI. Work makes you free."
Verbal Irony- They won't actually be free
"At the start of the third week, or Blockalteste was removed; he was judged to humane."
Verbal irony- He was still very harsh, he wasn't actually too humane.
Dehumanization
When the Nazis made the prisoners feel like they weren't human. They were essentially taking away what made them human. For example, a someone's hair is part of what defines them as a person. When they shaved their hair, they were taking part of there identity. Also, they forced them to work to the point where they were in terrible physical condition. This changed both their physique and outlook on life.