Night

Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 1.03: The Irony of Hope

In times of darkness, is it always better to focus on the light?
(Source)

What is it about personal stories of misfortune and sadness that make it difficult for listeners to believe?

Don't worry. We're going somewhere with this.

We mean, we hear of people's lived experiences, and suddenly everyone shakes their heads and says, "I can't believe it," "no way that happened," "you've got to be kidding!" Why is it so hard to accept that sometimes humans do terrible things to each other, or that extremely unfortunate circumstances arise in good people's lives?

Chapter (or Section) One of Night gives us a great example of humanity's unwillingness to accept stories that don't make us warm and fuzzy. In fact, we see quite a bit of denial masked as hope, and while they say hindsight is 20/20, we find ourselves reading the pages and screaming, "Listen to this man."

Because, well…he's telling the truth.

Elie tells us his story, beginning with his loving mentor Moishe the Beadle, and highlights three years of events that provide some insight into the war brewing at the time. These words and stories work together to begin shaping the themes of the memoir.

What are we to learn from Moishe's life in Chapter One? What does his story—and even Elie's lack of belief—teach us about the downside of hope and optimism?

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 1.1.03a: Chapter One of Night

Often times, the first part of a book serves as the know-it-all friend of the group.

C'mon. You know that one friend who always manages to have the background information on everything. We depend on that friend to make sure the rest of us aren't missing essential pieces of intelligence.

The point is, Chapter—or Section—One is the know-it-all friend Wiesel uses to provide the exposition for the story. He also uses Moishe as a vehicle to clue us in on what occurred beforehand.

He also uses a great deal of figurative language and imagery to tell his story, which paint a detailed mental picture for us. He describes Moishe's tears as "drops of wax," illustrating perhaps the size of and frequency with which they fall from his eyes as he laments the people's disbelief (7).

We also see the elements of memoir in these pages. What separates memoirs from general personal narratives? Chiefly, the length of a memoir far exceeds that of a basic personal narrative. Memoirs also include multiple events that seem to be linked rather than a single moment in our lives.

Yeah, Shmoop, but how do you know when it's a memoir and not just a random story that teaches a little lesson? Don't mind if we do! Answer these five questions for whatever the heck you're reading, and you'll know.

[Cue Jeopardy's thinking music]:

• Is it told in first-person point of view?
• Can you clearly hear the narrator's voice?
• Did the story actually happen?
• Is there a major message/lesson or two?
• Does the narrator seek answers or change?

TL; DR? This section is chock-full of important dates and details to frame the sequence of events.

Check out Shmoop's Chapter One Summary when you're finished reading.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 1.1.03b: The German Occupation

For this reading, head on over to the USHMM's article, "German Occupation of Hungary" and read two sections:

• Ghettoization of the Hungarian Jews
• Deportation of the Hungarian Jews

As you read, consider the following:

• Can you find where Elie's perspective in the story is supported by the information in this reading? 
• How does this reading help us understand the memoir?

Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 1.03a: About Time

What a start, right? A lot happened in those 19 pages. A lot.

To help streamline and organize your thoughts, we're going to ask you to create a timeline of major events (and dates) from Elie's life that are introduced in Chapter One.

Use Microsoft Word (or another epic word processor) to create a document that records at least six events from Section One. We won't ask you to chart any particular events in your timeline, but be sure to indicate the years that are passing, so that you can chart

• Elie's age.
• the speed at which Germany began invading other countries.

Here's an example of a timeline we might make:

Okay, ours looks like a super cool train—and you can find that template here, if you want to use it.

If you want, though, you can go totally rogue and create your own template. It can be more or less fancy than ours. We won't judge either way.

When you're finished, drop your completed timeline below. Remember, we're looking for at least six events from the first chapter.

Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 1.03b: Creating the Writer's Notebook

We need to take notes somehow.

We mean, think about it. We're going to need a way to talk about the literary terms we're supposed to be learning from the book. We also need all of this to be in one place. Nobody wants to go searching for this every lesson, right?

That's why you're going to create a Writer's Notebook for this course.

Basically, a Writer's Notebook is an interaction between you and the text you're reading. It allows you to process your thoughts, ask questions, and make judgments on the subject or events in the book.

For many of these lessons, you will create at least one new entry. We'll always let you know which literary term is the focus, and we'll even be providing the textual evidence for you in the first couple of assignments. Once we think you're ready to handle it on your own, we'll allow you to pick your own quotes from the text and share your own commentary.

You should keep your Writer's Notebook updated via Microsoft Word, or whichever word processing software you love the most. Remember that the commentary is really just you talking about the words on the page. You have several options for the direction you'd like to take.

In your commentary, you can:

• Ask questions about the text, what it means, and/or why it's there.
• Make connections to your life, the world, other texts, or media.
• Provide clarity for earlier questions or predictions you had.
• Make a judgment or evaluation about the situation, characters, actions, or theme(s).
• Anticipate the next or future events based on what's happening now.

Your commentary/analysis should always be in complete sentences and address the literary device(s) we give you. Shoot for 2 – 3 sentences for each entry. You'll see later how much it helps to have thoughtful analysis in your notes. We promise.

You can find our Writer's Notebook template here—or, you can make a template of your own, if you've got that much skill. Either way, make sure it looks a little something like this:

Like we said, this doesn't have to be an exact art. However you choose to format your Writer's Notebook, make sure it's in a format that will be easy for you to keep updating as we read through the book. It's totally acceptable, for instance, to simply write journal entries as paragraphs, like so:

Date: 1/1/1111

Today, I found the following quotes about the theme of "family persevering through hard times"…

Pick whatever works for you and stick with it. You won't be graded for how pretty your journal looks—just how accurately it represents the text, and displays your understanding of it.

Once you've got your formatting down, choose two quotes from the text and write two to three sentences of commentary about each quote. For today's entry, we won't ask you to choose quotes about any particular device. Any quote that caught your eye is okay, provided you explain why you thought it was interesting.

Check out our example above if you want to see what we're looking for. When you're finished, upload the first draft of your notebook below.

Sample Lesson - Activity