N IGHT U NIT E XAM S TUDY G UIDE :
A DV . E NGLISH II
Exam Format
4 short answer questions; responses should be a minimum of 5 sentences. Each question is worth 5
points.
1 extended response question; this should be a multi-paragraph response with ample, specific details
from the text. This question will be worth 30 points.
Total number of points for this exam: 50
Topics of Importance: Use the space below each topic to take
notes. You can write in bullets, but the more detailed your notes
are, the better prepared you will be for the exam.
1. Central conflict: What is it? What forces work to further the conflict, and how is the conflict resolved?
The central conflicts of Elie Wiesel's Night are Elie's internal conflict surrounding
his willpower, his relationship with faith, and his relationship with his dad. His
weak father and the inhumane conditions the Nazi's impose on Elie, his father,
and his community further the conflict. Elie's conflicts are resolved by his father's
death, and his liberation by the Americans.
2. Events that shape Wiesel’s point of view: on religion, family, humanity, survival, etc…
The Jewish holidays like Ramadan and Yom Kippur that Elie's community celebrate
despite their conditions shape Elie's faith in God, this event paired with the pipel's
hanging cemented Elie's belief that God is dead. The second event in which Elie's point
of view changes is when he witnessed Meir kill his father. Earlier in the book, he vowed
to never abandon his father. At the end of the book, Elie lets his father die, signifying a
change in his point of view about family values.
3. Central message to readers: What is it? How is it conveyed?
The central message of Night is a warning to not repeat this atrocity in future
generations, and to make the horrors of the holocaust known. This message is
conveyed through traumatic experiences that Elie and his father witnessed.
4. Prisoners’ responses to their imprisonment/torture: What are some of the differing responses? Why
are these responses significant? What do they say about humankind or adversity in general?
Some prisoners stayed strong and remained resistant, like the stoic prisoners who
cursed Germany right before they were hung, some suffered in silence, like the
Pipel who completely gave up and showed the Germans the true extent to his
suffering, and some turned on each other, like how Meir turned on his father. It
shows how greatly dehumanized the prisoners were in both the eyes of their
captors and in the eyes of each other.
5. Common rhetorical techniques: What are some rhetorical techniques/literary devices you noticed
throughout the memoir? Examples? Effect on the story? On the reader?
Wiesel uses similes that described the prisoners as dogs, and included
metaphors of hell and death throughout his novel. (corpses, tombs-beds,
angels dying- pipel) These literary devices further portray the
dehumanization and the extent to how much the Jews suffered.
