Transcript NIGHT - Schoolwires

NIGHT
Section 3
Introduction to
Birkenau/ Auschwitz
POINT OF VIEW

Wiesel’s chilling first person point of view
results in powerful emotions. He shows us
only what Eliezer sees and thinks at a
given moment.

This limited perspective and lack of
knowledge make the story all the more
terrifying. We as the readers are always
with Eliezer, caught up in the tension and
horror of his personal experience.
LOSS OF FAITH

Eliezer’s loss of faith in God begins at
Auschwitz. When he first sees the furnace
pits in which the Nazis are burning babies,
he experiences the beginnings of doubt.

This later shows a contrast between
Eliezer’s faith and the continued faith of
other devout prisoners such as Akiba
Drumer, whose strong beliefs raise the
prisoners’ spirits.
LOSS OF HUMANITY

In this section, we also see Eliezer
beginning to doubt his own humanity
and his loss of faith in man.
Example

When the Gypsy inmate beats his
father, Eliezer is surprised at himself
for how he reacts.
 Only the day before, he tells himself, he
would have attacked the Gypsy; now,
however, he remains silent, and feels guilty
about it.

Fear of Silence is very important in
this memoir. Wiesel could be asking
the following question:
if there is silence in the face of evil,
then could that silence allow evil to
survive?
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TITLE

This section contains one of the most
famous paragraphs from the memoir.
It is the first time that Eliezer
interrupts his narration to reminisce
about the ways that the Holocaust
continued to affect his life after it
ended.

The repetition of the phrase “Never
shall I forget” shows how Eliezer’s
experiences are forever burned into
his mind.

This phrase also shows how Wiesel
understands the importance of
remembering the horrible events of
the Holocaust. He has the job of
bringing these events to light so that
nothing like that can ever happen
again.