The Power of One Person

In his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Wiesel says: "[O]ne person of integrity can make a difference, a difference of life and death. As long as one dissident is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our life will be filled with anguish and shame. What all these victims need above all is to know that they are not alone; that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are stifled we shall lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs" (p. 120). How has Elie Wiesel fulfilled this purpose with this book? How does this statement make you feel about your place in the world?

Corpse in the Mirror

At the end of Night, Wiesel writes: "From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me" (p. 115). What parts of Eliezer died during his captivity? What was born in their place?

Bystanders and Perpetrators

Think of the kapos and the little blonde pipel who is hanged on page 64. Who are the bystanders? Who are the perpetrators? Who are the victims in Night? Do these roles sometimes overlap?

God

As Night begins, Eliezer is so moved by faith that he weeps when he prays. He is also searching for a deeper understanding of the mystical teachings of the Kabbalah. How does Eliezer's relationship with his faith and with God change as the book progresses?

Memoir and History

Look again at the opening pages of Night. When it begins, twelve-year-old Eliezer lives in the Transylvanian village of Sighet with his parents and sisters. How does being introduced to such people alter your understanding of the fact that, a halfcentury ago, six million Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust? How is this sickening truth achieved through Night’s dual purposes of memoir and history?

Father-Son Relationship

In the concluding pages of Night, Eliezer’s father is dying a slow, painful death in Buchenwald. But Eliezer is there to comfort him, or at least to try. Does Eliezer see his father as a burden by this point, or does he feel only pity and sorrow for him? Compare and contrast the father-son relationship you see at the end of this memoir with the one you saw at the beginning.

Cassandra

Cassandra was a figure in Greek mythology who received the gift of prophecy with the simultaneous curse that no one would ever believe her. Compare Cassandra to Mrs. Schächter. Are there other Cassandras in Night? Who are they?