Night/memoir - 2013 Assignment 1 - Read Night pp 6-22 - Journal - As Eliezer's family and neighbors are confined to a large ghetto

and then expelled to a smaller, ghostlier one whose residents have already been deported, what do you learn about the process by which Hitler implemented doom? How are you affected by the uncertainty endured by Sighet's Jews on their prolonged journey to the concentration camps? Is there a time in your other memoir reading that reminds you of the tension and uncertainty in Night? Describe a time when you have been in a situation when you have forced to do something because of the situation you were in which seemed to be beyond your control. What did you do? Assignment 2 - Read Night 23-39 - At Birkenau, Eliezer considers ending his life by running into the electric fence. His father tells him to remember Mrs. Schchter, who had become delusional on the train. What could account for the fact that Eliezer and his father were able to keep their wits about them while others slipped into the crazy? What do you think it takes to survive when body, mind, and spirit are oppressed and brutalized for months, even years? In your other memoir, discuss a time when survival was a question and how they did coped with it. Assignment 3 - Read Night pp. 40 65 and the poem Buna. We will analyze the poem together and then you will answer the questions in your journal that are at the bottom of the page. Then using pp. 52 - 65, discuss the hierarchies in place at Auschwitz. How was a prisoner's value determined? What experiences have you had with hierarchies/class systems? Discuss one that stands out for you and the results of being in contact with that particular hierarchy or system. Do you see hierarchies in your other memoir? If so, what are they and how do they show the values of the people in the society? If not, why do you suppose there are no hierarchies or class systems? Assignment 4 - Read Night pp. 65-84 - Journal - After the surgery on Eliezer's foot, he and his father must face being marched to a more remote camp or staying behind to face possible execution amid rumors of approaching Red Army troops. Wiesel's father decides that he and his son should leave the camp. The memoir is filled with such times to make decisions, the outcomes of which can be known only afterward. This theme of decisions and their consequences is found throughout the memoir. Describe another time that this theme is shown in pages 76 - 84 and explain why this theme is important to the author.

What decisions have you made that had unexpectedly negative outcomes? What did you do? How did it affect you? In your other memoir, discuss where a decision that is made has an unexpected outcome, and the resulting effect on the author. Assignment 5 - Read Night pp 85-103 free write reactions from these pages. Assignment 6 - Read Night pp 104 - 115 - Journal - Explain what Elie sees at the end of the memoir, in the mirror. What does the image mean? Why do you think he ended the memoir this way? Be specific. In your other memoir, discuss the ending and how it has affected you as a reader. What are you taking away from your other memoir ending? Assignment 7 - Essay Your Task: Write a critical essay in which you discuss Night by Elie Weisel and the memoir you read from the particular perspective of the statement that is provided for you in the Critical Lens. In your essay, provide a valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement and support your opinion using specific references to appropriate literary elements from the two works. Use the organizer to plan your response. Critical Lens: But the memories that hang heaviest are the easiest to recall. They hold in their creases the ability to change one's life, organically, forever. Even when you shake them out, they've left permanent wrinkles in the fabric of your soul. Julie Gregory

Guidelines: Provide a valid interpretation of the Critical Lens that clearly establishes the criteria for analysis. If you were going to explain what the quote meant, what would you say? Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement. Is it true or not true, based on the two books you are writing about. Avoid the plot summary. Instead use specific references to appropriate literary elements to develop your analysis (for example, theme, characterization, setting, point of view.) Organize your ideas in a logical and coherent manner. Specify the titles and authors of the work you are using.

 Follow the conventions of standard written English. The essay should be typed on Googledocs and shared. Final is due April 19th 2013 by the end of class.