Why is Eliezer angry when his father wants to rest on a pile of snow?

Because to sit down in the snow among the dying is to die

Because his father has given away the last of his bread

Because his father refuses to speak to him at all

Because his father is holding up the line and risking a beating

What interrupts the struggle to get Shlomo toward the shower entrance?

Sirens sound an alert and the camp lights go out

The guards begin distributing the black coffee

Snow turns to rain and the ranks are dismissed

A selection is announced over the camp loudspeakers

What does Shlomo try to tell Eliezer when he is certain the end is near?

Where the family's valuables lie buried back in Sighet

That he wants his son to say Kaddish over his body

Which of his neighbors had survived the earlier selection

The name of the officer who beat him in the block

Why does the first doctor refuse to help Shlomo?

He is a surgeon and will treat only surgical cases

He has been ordered by the SS to ignore the block

He has run out of every medicine in the infirmary

He treats only prisoners still on the work details

Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 8 of Night?

The transport reaches Buchenwald at night.

Dysentery confines Shlomo to his bunk, and he begs constantly for water.

An SS officer strikes Shlomo on the head with a truncheon for calling out.

Eliezer takes his father's ration for himself, as the head of the block advises.

Eliezer recites Kaddish at his father's grave.

What does the head of the block advise Eliezer to do about his father?

Stop feeding him and keep the rations for himself

Trade his own bread for medicine from the camp doctor

Report the men who are beating him to the guards

Carry him to the infirmary and demand treatment

Why does Eliezer not move when the officer strikes his father and his father keeps calling his name?

He is terrified of being beaten by the officer himself

He has left the block to stand outside at roll call

He is lying unconscious with fever in the next bunk

He is in another block and cannot hear his father's call

What does Eliezer's closing admission that he might have found something like "Free at last!" suggest?

That the camp could stir that thought even in a devoted son

That Eliezer had stopped caring for his father long before

That the narrator has recovered his religious faith

That he felt nothing at all about his father's death

Night, Chapter 8 quiz

From Night by Elie Wiesel

Chapter 8 of Night: at Buchenwald, dysentery wastes Eliezer's father, and at dawn on January 29, 1945, another sick man lies on his cot. No prayers are said.

12 questions · about 13 minutes

Read the chapter

Questions and answers

1
Question 1. Which camp does the transport reach at the beginning of Chapter 8?
- Correct answer: Buchenwald
- Gleiwitz
- Birkenau
- Buna
The transport arrives at Buchenwald at night, and loudspeakers order the survivors to form ranks on the assembly ground.
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2
Question 2. Why is Eliezer angry when his father wants to rest on a pile of snow?
- Because his father has given away the last of his bread
- Because his father refuses to speak to him at all
- Because his father is holding up the line and risking a beating
- Correct answer: Because to sit down in the snow among the dying is to die
Eliezer understands what his father no longer seems to care about: stopping in the snow at that moment is a decision to die.
Read the passage
3
Question 3. What interrupts the struggle to get Shlomo toward the shower entrance?
- The guards begin distributing the black coffee
- Correct answer: Sirens sound an alert and the camp lights go out
- Snow turns to rain and the ranks are dismissed
- A selection is announced over the camp loudspeakers
The alert ends the standoff. In the blackout the guards drive everyone into the blocks, separating father and son.
Read the passage
4
Question 4. What does Shlomo try to tell Eliezer when he is certain the end is near?
- That he wants his son to say Kaddish over his body
- Which of his neighbors had survived the earlier selection
- Correct answer: Where the family's valuables lie buried back in Sighet
- The name of the officer who beat him in the block
Believing he is dying, Shlomo tries to pass on the location of the money and valuables hidden in the cellar of their home in Sighet.
Read the passage
5
Question 5. Why does the first doctor refuse to help Shlomo?
- He has been ordered by the SS to ignore the block
- Correct answer: He is a surgeon and will treat only surgical cases
- He has run out of every medicine in the infirmary
- He treats only prisoners still on the work details
When Eliezer says his father has dysentery, the doctor answers, "That's not my business. I'm a surgeon." A second doctor, Eliezer says, has come only to finish off the patients.
Read the passage
6
Question 6. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 8 of Night?
- The transport reaches Buchenwald at night.
  
  Happened
  
  The chapter opens at the entrance to Buchenwald; that night the lights go out during an alert, and Eliezer wakes up to daylight.
- Eliezer takes his father's ration for himself, as the head of the block advises.
  
  Didn't happen
  
  Eliezer does not take his father's ration; he runs to get soup and brings it to his father.
- Dysentery confines Shlomo to his bunk, and he begs constantly for water.
  
  Happened
  
  Suffering from dysentery, his father lies prostrate on his cot, and all he wants is water.
- Eliezer recites Kaddish at his father's grave.
  
  Didn't happen
  
  No prayers are said over his father's tomb; Eliezer wakes to find another sick person on his father's cot.
- An SS officer strikes Shlomo on the head with a truncheon for calling out.
  
  Happened
  
  An officer passing between the bunks deals Eliezer's father a violent blow to the head with his club when he keeps calling out.
Read the passage
7
Question 7. What does the head of the block advise Eliezer to do about his father?
- Correct answer: Stop feeding him and keep the rations for himself
- Trade his own bread for medicine from the camp doctor
- Report the men who are beating him to the guards
- Carry him to the infirmary and demand treatment
The Blockälteste tells him there are no fathers or brothers in the camp and that he should keep his rations, and even take his father's, to survive.
Read the passage
8
Question 8. What does 'prostrate' mean in the line "Suffering from dysentery, my father was prostrate on his cot"?
- Shaking with cold and fear
- Burning with a high fever
- Sitting up and fully awake
- Correct answer: Lying flat, too weak to rise
Prostrate means lying flat, here too sick to get up: his father cannot stand, and later has to be brought to the doctor.
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9
Question 9. What does 'plaintive' mean in the sentence: "A plaintive voice came from behind me:"?
- Harsh and commanding in tone
- Faint and hard to make out
- Correct answer: Sad and pleading in sound
- Calm and gently reassuring
A plaintive voice sounds sad and pleading, like his father's as he begs, "Eliezer, my son … bring me … a little coffee … "
Read the passage
10
Question 10. Why does Eliezer not move when the officer strikes his father and his father keeps calling his name?
- Correct answer: He is terrified of being beaten by the officer himself
- He has left the block to stand outside at roll call
- He is lying unconscious with fever in the next bunk
- He is in another block and cannot hear his father's call
Eliezer lies on the upper bunk and hears his father call his name, but he is afraid of another blow, this time to his own head.
Read the passage
11
Question 11. What does 'grudgingly' mean in the sentence: "I was aware that I was doing it grudgingly."?
- Secretly, so no one would see
- Slowly, with great effort
- Correct answer: Unwillingly, with resentment
- Gladly and without hesitation
Grudgingly means unwillingly or resentfully: Eliezer gives his father the rest of his soup, but his heart is heavy as he does it.
Read the passage
12
Question 12. What does Eliezer's closing admission that he might have found something like "Free at last!" suggest?
- That Eliezer had stopped caring for his father long before
- That the narrator has recovered his religious faith
- That he felt nothing at all about his father's death
- Correct answer: That the camp could stir that thought even in a devoted son
Eliezer cannot weep, and it pains him; he says only that deep inside his feeble conscience he might have found that thought, after all his days of caring for his father.
Read the passage

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Next: Night, Chapter 9

Questions and answers

Question 1. Which camp does the transport reach at the beginning of Chapter 8?

Question 2. Why is Eliezer angry when his father wants to rest on a pile of snow?

Question 3. What interrupts the struggle to get Shlomo toward the shower entrance?

Question 4. What does Shlomo try to tell Eliezer when he is certain the end is near?

Question 5. Why does the first doctor refuse to help Shlomo?

Question 6. Which of these events actually occur in Chapter 8 of Night?

Question 7. What does the head of the block advise Eliezer to do about his father?

Question 8. What does 'prostrate' mean in the line "Suffering from dysentery, my father was prostrate on his cot"?

Question 9. What does 'plaintive' mean in the sentence: "A plaintive voice came from behind me:"?

Question 10. Why does Eliezer not move when the officer strikes his father and his father keeps calling his name?

Question 11. What does 'grudgingly' mean in the sentence: "I was aware that I was doing it grudgingly."?

Question 12. What does Eliezer's closing admission that he might have found something like "Free at last!" suggest?