Night, Chapter 9 quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Where is Eliezer sent after his father's death at Buchenwald?

   • To the camp infirmary to recover from his own injuries
   • Correct answer: To the children's block, where six hundred children are held
   • To a work Kommando hauling stone outside the camp
   • To a transport leaving Buchenwald for another camp

   With his father gone, Eliezer is transferred to the children's block and waits out the weeks there.

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2. 2

   Question 2. What occupies Eliezer's thoughts during his weeks in the children's block?

   • Keeping up the prayers his father had taught him
   • Finding out what became of his mother and his sisters
   • Planning an escape with the other boys in the block
   • Correct answer: Food and nothing else, down to dreaming of extra soup

   He says he no longer thought of his father or mother; his only desire was to eat, and even his dreams were of soup.

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3. 3

   Question 3. What happens when the children set out for the Appelplatz on April 5?

   • Correct answer: Prisoners whisper to them to go back to their block
   • Gustav, the Blockälteste, hides them inside the block
   • The resistance fights off the SS guarding the Appelplatz
   • An SS officer counts them and marches them to the gate

   Prisoners whisper to the children to go back to their block because the Germans plan to shoot them; on the way back, the children learn that the camp's underground resistance has decided not to abandon the Jews.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Roughly how many prisoners are still in Buchenwald on April 10?

   • About one hundred thousand
   • About two thousand
   • Correct answer: About twenty thousand
   • About fifty thousand

   Wiesel records some twenty thousand prisoners remaining, among them a few hundred children.

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5. 5

   Question 5. What prevents the SS from emptying the camp on the evening of April 10?

   • Correct answer: Sirens sound an alert and send the prisoners back to the blocks
   • A snowstorm makes the roads out of the camp impassable
   • American tanks arrive at the gates that same afternoon
   • The resistance destroys the rail line leading to the camp

   The alert scatters the assembled prisoners, it grows too late to move them, and the evacuation is put off to the next morning.

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6. 6

   Question 6. Who actually drives the SS out of Buchenwald?

   • An American armored column that enters the camp at dawn
   • A mutiny among the German guards stationed at the gates
   • Soldiers of the Red Army who reach the camp first
   • Correct answer: The camp's own armed underground resistance movement

   Armed prisoners rise on the morning of April 11; by midday the SS have fled and the resistance holds the camp, hours before the first American tank arrives.

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7. 7

   Question 7. What is the first thing the prisoners do once they are free?

   • They set fire to the SS barracks and the watchtowers
   • They gather to say Kaddish for the dead of the camp
   • Correct answer: They throw themselves onto the camp's stores of food
   • They set out on foot for their hometowns that night

   Wiesel writes that their first act as free men was to throw themselves onto the provisions: no thought of revenge or of parents, only of bread.

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8. 8

   Question 8. What happens to Eliezer three days after the liberation?

   • He recovers quickly and helps hand out food to the others
   • Correct answer: He becomes gravely ill with some form of poisoning
   • He is moved by the Americans to a camp for the displaced
   • He goes into Weimar with the other young men for supplies

   He becomes very ill with some form of poisoning, is transferred to a hospital and spends two weeks between life and death.

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9. 9

   Question 9. Which of these events actually occur in the final section of Night?

   • Eliezer is moved to the children's block, where there are six hundred children.

     Happened

     After his father's death Eliezer is transferred to the children's block, where there are six hundred of them.

   • The camp's underground resistance drives the SS out before the Americans arrive.

     Happened

     The resistance attacks at about ten in the morning; by noon the SS have fled, and the first American tank arrives at six that afternoon.

   • Eliezer weeps at his father's grave before leaving Buchenwald.

     Didn't happen

     The chapter shows no grave; Eliezer says that since his father's death nothing mattered to him, and he no longer thought of his father.

   • An alert sends the massed prisoners back to the blocks, and the evacuation is put off.

     Happened

     On April 10 the sirens send the massed prisoners back to the blocks, and the evacuation is postponed to the next day.

   • The freed prisoners hunt down the guards who had beaten them.

     Didn't happen

     Not one of the freed prisoners thinks of revenge; their first thoughts are only of bread.

   • Eliezer finds his mother's name on a list of survivors.

     Didn't happen

     The chapter never tells what became of his mother; he says he no longer thought of his father, or his mother.

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10. 10

    Question 10. Which of these details does Wiesel actually report about the days around the liberation?

    • The first American tank reaches the gates at six o'clock on the afternoon the SS flee.

      Happened

      At six o'clock that afternoon, a few hours after the SS have fled, the first American tank stands at the gates of Buchenwald.

    • In the last days the prisoners live on grass and potato peelings.

      Happened

      Hunger torments them; for nearly six days they eat nothing but a few stalks of grass and some potato peels.

    • The Americans distribute medicine before any food is handed out.

      Didn't happen

      No medicine is mentioned; the freed prisoners' first act is to throw themselves onto the provisions.

    • Eliezer spends two weeks in a hospital after the liberation.

      Happened

      Three days after the liberation he becomes very ill with some form of poisoning and spends two weeks in a hospital between life and death.

    • Eliezer keeps a diary throughout his weeks in the children's block.

      Didn't happen

      No diary is mentioned; Eliezer says he will not describe his life during that period and that he spent his days in total idleness.

    • The memoir ends with Eliezer boarding a train home to Sighet.

      Didn't happen

      The memoir ends in the hospital, where Eliezer looks at himself in a mirror for the first time since the ghetto.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What does 'provisions' mean in the sentence “Our first act as free men was to throw ourselves onto the provisions”?

    • Temporary shelters put up for the prisoners
    • Written permits allowing prisoners to leave
    • Correct answer: Stores of food and supplies kept for future use
    • Clauses or conditions set out in a written agreement

    Provisions are food stores; the prisoners' first free act is eating, which is exactly the point Wiesel is making.

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12. 12

    Question 12. What does 'contemplating' mean in the memoir's closing image, “From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me”?

    • Correct answer: Looking at something long and thoughtfully
    • Turning away in shame or in disgust
    • Calling out for help without any words
    • Planning out something to do in careful detail

    The corpse regards him steadily, and that sustained gaze is what Wiesel says has never left him.

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does 'idleness' mean where Eliezer describes spending his days in total idleness in the children's block?

    • A refusal to obey the orders he is given
    • Correct answer: The state of doing nothing at all
    • A slow recovery from a serious illness
    • Constant and exhausting physical labor

    Idleness is emptiness of occupation; with no work and no purpose left, only hunger fills his days.

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