Night, Chapter 6 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. In Gleiwitz, what shows the prisoners that the front is still close behind them?

   • Correct answer: They can again hear the cannons very close by
   • SS men on motorcycles shout that the Russians are near
   • The Kapos tell them the Russians have reached Buna
   • They see flashes of red through the barrack windows

   In Gleiwitz the front follows them: they again hear the cannons very close by, but they no longer have the strength to hope the Russians will reach them first.

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2. 2

   Question 2. Roughly how far does the column travel during that night of running?

   • About one hundred kilometers
   • About five kilometers
   • Correct answer: About twenty kilometers
   • About fifty kilometers

   The Kommandant announces some twenty kilometers covered in a single night, at a run, in deep snow.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What causes Zalman to stop during the run?

   • A guard shoots him in the leg from the roadside
   • Correct answer: He is seized by violent stomach cramps
   • He decides to hide in a ditch beside the road
   • He stops to help an older prisoner who has fallen

   Terrible stomach cramps force Zalman to stop and he falls to the ground; Eliezer believes he must have died, trampled by the thousands of men who followed.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Why does Eliezer resist the pull to stop running and die?

   • He has been promised extra bread at the next halt
   • He believes the war will be over within days
   • He is certain the guards will spare the wounded
   • Correct answer: His father runs beside him and depends on him

   Eliezer concludes he has no right to die because he is his father's only support.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What does Eliezer remember about Rabbi Eliahu's son after the rabbi leaves the shed?

   • Correct answer: That he saw his father fall back and kept running ahead
   • That he stopped to carry another prisoner through the snow
   • That he had been sent to a different camp weeks earlier
   • That he was shot during the first hour of the march

   Eliezer remembers that the son saw his father losing ground and kept running in front; he wonders whether the son wanted to be rid of his father.

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6. 6

   Question 6. What does Juliek do in the dark barracks at Gleiwitz?

   • He trades his violin to a guard for a ration of bread
   • He hides his violin beneath the bodies to keep it safe
   • Correct answer: He plays a fragment of a Beethoven concerto on his violin
   • He leads the surviving prisoners in a prayer for the dead

   Juliek plays to an audience of the dead and dying; by daybreak he is dead and the violin is trampled.

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7. 7

   Question 7. How does Eliezer's father end up on the right side in the selection at Gleiwitz?

   • Another prisoner agrees to trade places with him in line
   • An SS officer decides he is still fit enough to work
   • He hides beneath the bodies until the selection is over
   • Correct answer: Eliezer runs after him and in the confusion he switches over

   Eliezer runs after his father, and the SS men rushing to find him create such confusion that a number of people, his father and Eliezer among them, switch over to the right.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What does Eliezer pray for after Rabbi Eliahu leaves the shed?

   • Forgiveness for no longer believing in God at all
   • Correct answer: The strength never to do what the rabbi's son has done
   • The courage to tell the rabbi he saw his son running
   • A chance to say Kaddish over the dead left in the yard

   A prayer forms inside him, to a God he says he no longer believes in: "give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu's son has done."

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 6 of Night?

   • The prisoners are forced to run through the snow after Buna is evacuated.

     Happened

     After leaving Buna, the SS drive the prisoners on through the night, shooting anyone who cannot keep the pace.

   • Eliezer's father is sent to the left at Gleiwitz and stays there.

     Didn't happen

     His father is sent to the left, but in the confusion when Eliezer runs after him, both of them switch over to the right.

   • Juliek plays his violin in a barracks crowded with the dead and dying.

     Happened

     In the dark barrack at Gleiwitz, Juliek plays a fragment of a Beethoven concerto to an audience of the dead and dying.

   • Rabbi Eliahu finds his son's body in the snow.

     Didn't happen

     Rabbi Eliahu dug through the snow to find his son's body, in vain, and leaves the shed still searching.

   • The prisoners spend three days at Gleiwitz with no food and no water.

     Happened

     Eliezer says they stayed in Gleiwitz for three days, days without food or water, forbidden to leave the barrack.

   • Eliezer has an operation on his infected foot in the camp infirmary.

     Didn't happen

     The operation on his foot was back in Chapter 5; in this chapter his wounded foot no longer hurts, probably frozen.

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10. 10

    Question 10. What does 'selection' mean as it is used in Chapter 6, where the SS at Gleiwitz separate the weak from the men who can still march?

    • Correct answer: A sorting that decides which prisoners live and which are sent to die
    • A vote taken among prisoners to choose a leader for the barracks
    • A roll call held each morning to count the surviving prisoners
    • The choosing of prisoners to receive extra rations after a march

    In the camps a selection was the SS procedure for sorting prisoners into those kept alive and those condemned.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'plaintive' mean as used in: 'Not a sound of distress, not a plaintive cry, nothing but mass agony and silence'?

    • Calm, steady and unemotional in tone
    • Loud, harsh and threatening in tone
    • Plain, simple and ordinary in tone
    • Correct answer: Sad, mournful and grieving in tone

    Plaintive means sad and mournful; among the stiffened corpses outside the shed there is no plaintive cry, only mass agony and silence.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'mechanically' mean as used in: 'Our legs moved mechanically, in spite of us, without us'?

    • Noisily, drawing the attention of the guards
    • Deliberately, with close attention paid to each step
    • Correct answer: Automatically, without conscious thought or feeling
    • Slowly, with enormous physical difficulty

    Mechanically means automatically, like a machine; after twenty kilometers their legs keep moving in spite of them, without their choosing.

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