Elie Wiesel s Night Pre-reading Notes
Nonfiction: Defined Nonfiction: prose writing that presents and explains ideas or that tells about real people, places, ideas, or events. To be classified as nonfiction, a work must be true. However, opinions can also be included along with factual information.
Elements of Nonfiction Like fiction, nonfiction has characters, plot, and setting. However, these elements are real, not made up. Different types of nonfiction have different purposes: Inform: explains and provides information on a topic. Persuade/Argue: presents writer s opinion and tries to convince you to agree or take a certain action. The writer's attitude toward his or her subject matter is called tone.
Three (Main) Types of Nonfiction Journalism: newspaper, magazine, online source, television broadcasting, etc. Essays: short work about a particular subject. Five types: descriptive, expository, narrative, autobiographical, and persuasive. Personal chronicles: diary, journal, letter, memoir, autobiography, biography, etc.
Memoir Memoir: autobiographical narrative that focuses on a brief period of time or series of related events, not a great span of years. It explores an event or series of related events that remain lodged in memory.
Memoir Characteristics Memoirs adhere to narrative structure, including the usual elements of storytelling. The experience of writing is therapeutic for the writer, especially when the memoir recounts a crisis or life-threatening experience. The writer maintains a first-person point of view.
Coming-of-Age Story Coming-of-age story: traces the protagonist's growth from a selfabsorbed, immature individual into an expansive, mature human being concerned with the welfare of others, and his or her place in the world.
Coming-of-Age Story Characteristics The protagonist is initiated into adulthood through knowledge gained and/or experience. The protagonist s growth is achieved through abandonment of preconceptions, destruction of a false sense of security, and loss of innocence. The protagonist changes from ignorance to knowledge, innocence to experience, false view of world to truthful view, idealism to realism, and immature responses to mature responses.
Characterization Characterization: the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character. Direct characterization: an author overtly reveals a character s personality. Indirect characterization: textual clues show a character s motivation and intent.
Imagery and Symbolism Imagery: descriptive language that appeals to the five senses. Example: The bright green apple was crisp and sweet. Symbol: a person, place, or thing used to represent something else. Example: The American flag is a thing, but it symbolizes the US.
Images and Symbols in Night As we read, be sure to practice your close reading skills by looking for these images and symbols: Night Pay attention to each time Wiesel refers to the night and determine what night symbolizes in the memoir overall. Fire Notice Wiesel s descriptions of fire and flames throughout the memoir and analyze what this image typically represents.
Motif Motif: a word, character, object, image, metaphor, or idea that recurs in a work. Example: In To Kill a Mockingbird, different types of prejudice recur throughout the novel. Example: In Julius Caesar, bad omens and warnings recur throughout the play. Example: In The Odyssey, the seductress archetype recurs throughout the epic.
Motifs in Night As we read, be sure to practice your close reading skills by looking for these motifs: Bearing Witness: Pay attention to which characters are witnesses and to what they bear witness. Father-son Relationships: Take note of how fathers and sons develop relationships throughout the memoir. Loss of faith: Notice how Elie s faith in God frequently shifts as the memoir progresses.
Theme Theme: a central message or insight into life revealed through a literary work; a lesson or moral Theme formula: Subject + What the author says about it = Theme The subject is what the work of literature is about such as love, friendship, hate, prejudice, family, etc. For example, in Antigone, one of the subjects is stubbornness. What the author says about the subject: Think about what happens in the plot and to the characters that teaches a lesson/moral. For example, what is Sophocles saying about stubbornness in Antigone? Stubbornness + Tragic flaw = Stubbornness causes terrible things to happen