Night Discussion Questions

How is “night” a powerful symbol conveying the horrors of Nazism?

When God first created the world, he dispelled the darkness and ushered in light. So, in the Bible, darkness and night are associated with a world without God. In Night, Wiesel uses night as a powerful symbol to depict a world where the benevolence of God doesn’t exist, and the Jews are killed without reason. The entire mission is to execute Hitler’s single-minded agenda of wiping out European Jewry. The Nazi system of extermination is so ruthless and relentless that it extends even in the night. Night has enveloped their humanity, washing away all mercy and human feeling. The darkness now both symbolizes how morality and humanity have been obfuscated by the evil of the Nazis and also how time itself has become “one long night.” The first time Eliezer mentions that “[n]ight fell” is when his father is interrupted while telling his story, and he brings back the news of the Jews being deported. Similarly, it is nighttime when Eliezer first arrives at Birkenau/Auschwitz. It is again night when prisoners begin marching from Buna. Apart from these horrors, night also symbolizes the gradual clouding of Eliezer’s faith and his innocence.

How does chance play a role in the fate of the Jews?

While one has no control over fate, one does have a choice. Wiesel distinguishes between the Jews’ control over their fate and their control over their actions. He believes that even when faced with extreme realities, men still have a choice. He sees how the youth want to resist, but the seniors calm them down, thereby eliminating one chance of survival. He sees the Jews being shoved into cattle cars without resistance. He witnesses Jews behaving cruelly, killing each other over a piece of bread. At every stage, Eliezer notes how the Jews could have fled and avoided their death. While he understands why the inmates behave in this way, he doesn’t condone their behavior. Again, the reader can sense that Eliezer, and in extension, Wiesel, feels there are limits to the victims’ control over their fate. While Eliezer and Wiesel as well survive the Holocaust, it would be disrespectful to the memory of the victims to claim any credit for this.

Cite three instances of dramatic irony in Night.

When the Jews are asked to wear the yellow star at the beginning, Eliezer’s father doesn’t resist the idea; after all, how lethal can a star hanging from the body be? However, this is heavy with irony as it is the yellow star that will distinguish the Jews where they will be singled out for the camps.

When the prisoners arrive at Auschwitz, they assume that it is another labor camp and are assured to see that conditions are “good.” This is extremely ironic as the reader knows that Auschwitz was one of the most notorious of the Nazi camps. This horrible foreshadowing is unsettling as the fates of these inmates are already sealed.

The other instance of dramatic irony is when Eliezer and his father decide to be evacuated from Buna instead of staying at the hospital. If they would have stayed back, they would have been rescued by the Red Army much earlier.

What is the contribution of Moishe the Beadle as a character in Night?

Moishe the Beadle is one of the first characters introduced in Night, though he disappears from the story soon. Moishe initially represents the earnest commitment to Judaism, particularly Jewish mysticism. As Eliezer’s teacher, he urges the young man to pursue God through questioning. It is he who first asks Eliezer why he prays. His words will become the central conflict of Eliezer’s struggle with his faith later in the story.

When Moishe is picked up by the Hungarian police and survives near-death, his story is not heeded by any of the Jews despite his fervent warnings. He is symbolic of the first few warnings that come the Jews’ way but remain unheeded. This false sense of assurance and general delusion is so prevalent that Moishe is rendered silent at the end of it, considered having gone insane. Night can be read as an attack against silence. As we see in the story, evil is constantly perpetuated by a silent lack of resistance or—as can be seen in Moishe’s case—by ignoring the harsh truth. Moishe is symbolic of Wiesel as a witness to the truth and testifier, determined to be heard so as to prevent anything like the Holocaust from ever happening again.

How is madness a frequent motif in Night?

Madness is a recurrent theme in Wiesel’s works. While it is not a dominant theme in Night, though a lot of Jews became insane suffering the torture at the camps, it still serves as a motif to underline the existential theme of the book. It starts with Moishe the Beadle, whose suffering has made him an object of ridicule at Sighet. Although he is not called mad, his descriptions include being called a “clown,” with his eyes cast down, avoiding people’s gaze. The next instance is Mrs Schechter, who in her madness sees flames all around her, frightening the other Jews. Her incident is a deliberate foreshadowing of the events to come. In the end, it turns out that she was right all along despite being called mad. Wiesel’s father too turns delusional at the camp after a while. As we see in Night, when logic crumbles and humanity fails, when what we knew as our normal is no more a given fact, human suffering increases exponentially enough to drive people insane.