Things to Think About (with Ms. Hammond):
- Words you might not know: Rosh Hashanah, Kaddish, Yom Kippur, Achtung (danger), The Red Army, automatons
- In the camps, Elie must struggle to stay alive and to remain human. In your opinion, how well does he succeed with his struggle?
- How has Elie’s relationship with God changed since the beginning of the novel? What is the cause of this change?
- On page 68, during the prayer delivered on Rosh Hashanah, Elie states “My eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God and without man. Without love or mercy. I was nothing but ashes now, but I felt myself to be stronger than the Almighty to whom my life had been bound for so long.” Why, after suffering so much loss, does Elie feel stronger than ever?
- Throughout the chapters, the concentration camps have been referred to as “prisons,” slaughterhouses” and “factories of death.” Which analogy do you believe is most fitting? Why? If you had to come up with your own analogy, what would it be?
- Why did the Blockalteste react in anger when the “poor emaciated Jew” whose number had been written down during selection questioned him about his fate (page 73)?
- Assess the validity, AND explain the significance of the following statement, spoken by a Jewish hospital patient: “I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people (page 81). ”
- Upon hearing the news that Buna was going to be evacuated due to the pending arrival of the allied forces, Elie and his father must decide whether to remain in the camp infirmary, or be evacuated with the other prisoners. If placed in the same situation, not knowing (as they did not) that the patients would be liberated two days later, what would you have done? (page 82)
- Despite Elie’s assertion during the evacuation that, “One died because one had to,” he is unable to sleep because “something in [him] rebelled against that death.” What is that “something” (page 89)? What does this communicate about the human condition?
- Why did Juliek make the seemingly illogical decision to bring his violin during the evacuation (94)?
- Elie descibe’s Juliek’s death as “poignant” (95). What is one moment in the reading that you found to be particularly poignant?