Night
By Elie Wiesel
Student Edition
SCORING
WASL Practice
Night∼Student SCORING Edition
Rubrics
1 What is most likely the reason that Moshe returned to the village? Provide two details from the story in your
answer.
Text-based details may include, but are not limited to:
A. He told his story and that of his companions / through long days and nights he went from one Jewish house
to another (story of his death)
B. Babies were thrown and used as targets
C. He was wounded in the leg / taken for dead
D. Young girl who had taken three days to die / the tailor who had begged to be killed before his sons
E. Jews, listen to me / it’s all I ask of you / only to listen
F.
I don’t want money / pity
G. You don’t understand / can’t understand / I have been saved miraculously
H. To describe to you my death
I.
So that you could prepare yourselves while there was still time (chance to escape)
J.
I wanted to come back / to warn you
Students must give two text-based details to earn two points. One text-based detail earns one point.
Example 1.1: Score: 2; text-based details for bullets A, A, and J.
I believe Moshe returned to the village to tell the villagers a story of his death. On pg. 5 it
says he said, “Where did I get the strength from? I wanted to come back to Sighet to tell
you the story of my death.” It also says on pg 5 that he said, “I don’t attach any
importance to my life, no, I wanted to come back to warn you.”
Example 1.2: Score: 2; text-based detail for bullet J.
Moshe returned to the village to warn the jews of their fate if they stay and also, to
celebrate the cabbala with his fellow jews, after his warnings were ignored.
Example 1.3: Score: 0; no text-based details.
He prolly went back to see if anything was left and to try and help his family
Example 1.4: Score: 2; text-based details for bullets J, I, J, F, F, and J.
Moshe most likely returned to Sighet to warn the Jews of the Nazi’s intentions and give
them a chance at escaping. Moshe is very adamant about warning the Jews (“I don’t want
money or pity only listen to me”) which makes me believe he honestly cares about them and
he later tell Elie (“I wanted to come back and warn you”)
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Night∼Student SCORING Edition
9 What is the author’s purpose for writing the section “Never”? Provide one detail from the story to
support your answer.
Reasonable author’s purposes may include, but are not limited to:
To show the death of his faith
To show the horror of night
To show the redirection of his life
To show that he will never forget these experiences
Text-based details may include, but are not limited to:
A. The first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night
B. Forget the smoke
C. Little faces of the children
D. Bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke
E. Flames which consumed my faith
F. Nocturnal silence, which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live
G. Moments which murdered my God / soul / dreams to dust
Students must give a reasonable purpose and one text-based detail to earn two points. One text-based
detail or a reasonable purpose earns one point.
Example 9.1: Score: 2; purpose and text-based details for bullets B and D.
He meant that he will not forget that terrible night. “Never shall I forget that smoke”
meant that from the chimney the people in the ovens were burned.
Example 9.2: Score: 1; 3 purposes.
He wrote this as something to tell how it has destroyed him and changed hi view on his
beliefs and how it is engraved in his mine forever cause of how horrible it was.
Example 9.3: Score: 0; no text-based details.
The author’s purpose for writing never was because things never seemed to happen in a
good way everything that happened was bad so they started the never part.
Example 9.4: Score: 2; purpose and text-based detail for bullet A.
The author’s purpose for writing the section “Never” is that he will never forget what
happened. In the section is says (“Never” shall I forget that night, the first night in
camp.”)
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Night∼Student SCORING Edition
10 What are two differences between Birkenau and Auschwitz? Include information from the story in your answer.
Text-based details may include, but are not limited to:
A. First impression: this was better than Birkenau.
B. Concrete buildings instead of wooden barracks
C. Little gardens here and there
D. The first human words
E. Help one another
F.
Two people to a bunk
G. Treated newcomers without brutality
H. Wash place (showers) / new clothes / brought black coffee / brought some soup / one bowl of thick soup
I.
Morale improved / good night’s sleep / that war would soon end
J.
He (SS officer) must be lying / Auschwitz was a rest home
K. Engraved a number on our left arms
L. Roll call / the band playing military marches
M. Prisoners scattered to look for friends / relatives / neighbors
Students must give two text-based differences to earn two points. One text-based difference earns one
point.
Example 10.1: Score: 2; text-based details for bullets B, H, K, and B.
Auschwitz had concrete barracks, (two stories) showers, tatoos (number).
Birkenau had wooden barracks, (one story), no showers, mud.
Example 10.2: Score: 0; no text-based details.
Two differences between Berkenau and Auschwitz were that Aushwitz was much harsher
than Berkenau, mostly because this was where the first selection occurred. Also,
Auschwitz was much more a temporary camp than Berkenau.
Example 10.3: Score: 0; no text-based details, the response is too vague.
Auschwitz was better for everyone because it was nice and the germans were some what
kind. Birkenau was a horrible place people were being hurt a lot.
Example 10.4: Score: 1; text-based detail for bullet B.
Auschwitz had concrete buildings.
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Night∼Student SCORING Edition
12 One conclusion that a reader can draw from the selection is that Elie begins to think of his own
survival, rather than his father’s. Provide two details from the selection to support this conclusion.
Text-based details may include, but are not limited to:
A. I had watched the whole scene without moving
B. I kept quiet (silent)
C. In fact I was thinking of how to get farther away so that I would not be hit myself
D. What is more, any anger I felt at that moment was directed, not against the Kapo, but against my
father / I was angry with him, for not knowing how to avoid Idek’s outbreak
E. That is what concentration camp life had made of me
Students must give two text-based details to earn two points. One text-based detail earns one point.
Example 12.1: Score: 2; text-based details for bullets A and C.
If our conclusion is that Elie begins to think of his own survival rather than his father,
then two examples which support this “I had watched the whole scene without moving” and
“I was thinking of how to get farther away.”
Example 12.2: Score: 1; text-based detail for bullet D.
1.) His father was beaten by Idek and Elie was mad at his father, because he was making
noises that tells you he’s changed for his own survival. 2.) He wanted to keep his golden
crown, because he could sell it when he liberated. He wanted to keep it no matter what
happens to him and his dad.
Example 12.3: Score: 0; no text-based details, this student did not stick to the specific pages they were
supposed to use.
Toward the end of the book Elie sees a guy running nearby him. The guy kinds seems to be
losing his father by letting him slip behind. Elie commits to not doing that, but later his
father is in the train almost dead and he thinks of if he didn’t have the burden of his
father. Later when his father has dissentary he gives him his extra piece of bread, but is
advised to only fend for himself. He almost does that, but his father dies anyway.
Example 12.4: Score: 1; text-based detail for bullet C.
Because instead of helping his father instead he tried to think of ways to get further
away so he didn’t get hit himself.
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Night∼Student SCORING Edition
14 Write a summary of this section. Include three events from the section in your summary.
Summarizing statements may include, but are not limited to:
Elie is greatly affected by the boy’s hanging.
The Jews were so hungry, that even after being forced to watch the execution, the soup tasted good.
The Nazi’s mean to hang people as examples.
Text-based event may include, but are not limited to:
A. Bare your heads / caps simultaneously removed / cover your heads / caps went back onto their
skulls
B. Crematory ovens (crematoria) no longer troubled me / But this one (boy), leaning against his
gallows – he overwhelmed me (upset me deeply)
C. I’m hungry / found the soup excellent
D. Two prisoners helped (assisted) him in his task / for two plates (bowls) of soup
E. Wanted to bandage (blindfolded) victim’s (youth’s) eyes / he refused
F.
Put rope around his neck / motioning to his assistants to draw the chair away
G. Long live liberty / curse upon Germany
H. Had to march past the hanged man (boy) / stare at dimmed eyes / lolling tongue of death / forced
everyone to look him full in the face
Students may give a summarizing statement and two test-based details to earn two points OR three textbased details to earn two points. To earn one point students give one or two of the above components.
Example 14.1: Score: 0; no text-based details.
A summary of this section was that it was getting worse like they wouldn’t get soup until
after roll call. And more people were getting nervous like the boy who looked more moved
than afraid. And the caps were less there were only 10 thousand.
Example 14.2: Score: 2; text-based details for bullets G, F, H, H, and C.
The section was about the execution of the condemned man. It talked about what he said
before he was hung “Long Live Liberty”, but then he was cut off when the chair was taken
out from under him. The whole camp had to walk in front of the dead man and look him in
the eyes. At the end Elie recalled how excellent the soup was that night.
Example 14.3: Score: 1; text-based detail for bullet H.
Someone is getting hanged, and the prisnors were forced to march by him.
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Night∼Student SCORING Edition
16 What problem does Elie experience in this section of Night? What are three events that happen as a
result of the problem? Include information from the story in your answer.
Reasonable problems may include, but are not limited to:
Elie and the other prisoners must face a selection.
Elie is afraid his father is going to die.
Note: Loss of faith is accepted as an event, but not as a problem.
Text-based details may include, but are not limited to:
A. And soon a terrible word was circulating—selection.
B. An SS man would examine us / Whenever he found a weak one…he would write his number
down / good for selection.
C. Are you scared? / So were we scared.
D. The old men stayed in their corner / dumb / motionless / haunted
E. Some were praying
F. A merciless selection / how would he pass the selection
G. You must get completely undressed / move about in some way to give yourself color
H. Run / Run as if the devil were after you / “And most important, don’t be afraid!”
I.
Dr. Mengele took stock of them / from head to foot
J. Every now and then he wrote a number down
K. Those whose numbers had been noted stood apart / abandoned by the whole world / some were
weeping
L. Those whose numbers I call won’t be going to work this morning / stay behind in the camp
M. They had written down his number without his being aware of it (His father was selected.)
N. Ten prisoners surrounded the head of the block / hanging onto his clothes / Save us! / We’re good
workers
O. He tried to calm them / reassure them about their fate
P. He would stay behind alone / I was afraid of finding myself alone / How well they were treating
me, like an orphan
Q. I plodded around like a sleepwalker
R. Elie’s father gave him a knife and a spoon as an inheritance / remembrance / I gave him back his
knife and spoon
S. Akiba Drumer left us / a victim of the selection
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T. First cracks forming in his faith / lost his reason for struggling / not the only one to lose his faith /
“It’s the end. God is no longer with us.”
U. When the selection came, he was condemned in advance
V. Then he went off toward the hospital / an ambulance was waiting to take him to Birkenau
W. Forgot to say the Kaddish
Students must give a reasonable problem and three text-based events to earn four points. To earn one,
two, or three points students may have a combination of a reasonable problem and text-based events or
only text-based events.
Example 16.1: Score: 4; 2 problems, text-based details for bullets M, R, and S.
Elie’s problem in this section is the selection and his father being selected. In the being of
the section Elie’s head of block told them their would be an selection that day. Elie passed
the selection but his father didn’t. Elie’s father gave Elie his inheritance an went back to
camp. Elie returned from work and found his father had passed the second selection.
Akiba Drumer had been didn’t pass the second selection and was sent to the crematories.
Example 16.2: Score: 3; 1 problems, text-based details for bullets H, R, and R
The problem that Elie experiences in this section of night is that he and his father have to
go through selection. Elies passes through he was so nervous he ran so fast that he
couldn’t be taken though. Elie and his father we’re both shocked. Soon Elie waited for his
father to return with the news. His father gave him his spoon and knife just in case he
didn’t make it through the selection. Elie took them. But as soon as his father returned, he
gave his father the knife and spoon back.
Example 16.3: Score: 1; text-based detail for bullet M.
Eli is no longer on the same block as his father because he was transferred to a different
unit. Elis father’s number was written down which means he has one more chance or he
dies. The winter had come, eli didn’t have the right clothing.
Example 16.4: Score: 1; text-based detail for bullet T.
An inncodent was him and his dad were seperated and Akiba drumer had lost all faith
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Night∼Student SCORING Edition
17 What is the author’s purpose for writing the section? Provide three details from the section to support
your answer.
Reasonable purposes may include, but are not limited to:
To show that prisoners would abandon their loved ones to aid in their own survival
To show that Eliezer is committed to the care of his father even when other sons aren’t
To show that Elie is afraid of turning on his father
Text-based details may include but are not limited to:
A. For three years they had stuck together / always near each other / for suffering / for blows / for
ration of bread / for prayer
B. He (the son) had seen him. And he had continued to run on in front / letting the distance between
them grow greater.
C. He had wanted to get rid of his father!
D. He had felt that his father was growing weak
E. Sought this separation in order to get rid of the burden / free himself from an encumbrance which
could lessen his own chances of survival.
F. And, in spite of myself, a prayer rose in my heart, to that God in whom I no longer believed.
G. I had done well to forget that. (It was good that I had forgotten all that.)
H. Give me strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahou’s son has done.
I.
Sons abandoned their fathers’ remains without a tear.
Students must give a reasonable purpose and three text-based details to earn four points. To earn one, two,
or three points students may have a combination of a reasonable purpose and text-based details or only
text-based details.
Example 17.1: Score: 4; 1 purpose, text-based details for bullets E, B, B, C, and E.
Wiesel’s purpose for writing this section is to illustrate how family relationships changed
in the concentration camps during WWII. This selection shows how a son was willing to
free himself from his father to stay alive. “He had continued to run on in front, letting the
distance between them grow.” “The son of Rabbie Eliahou” wanted to get rid of his father.”
He wanted separation from his father “in order to get rid of the burden.”
Example 17.2: Score: 3; 1 purpose, text-based details for bullets D, E, and E.
Elie Wiesel’s purpose for writing this section was to show how men began to disregard
family bonds. Three examples are “He had felt his father grow weak, “he had sought
separation” and “he sought separation.
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Example 17.3: Score: 2; 1 purpose, text-based details for bullets B and B.
It was to show that the Rabbi’s son had purposely separated himself from his father. “…his
son had seen him losing ground.. He had continued to run in front, letting the distance
between them become greater.”
Example 17.4: Score: 3; 1 purpose, text-based details for bullets C and H.
The purpose for Elie writing the selection is to show the readers what had happened to
the men in the camps. The Rabbis son had wanted to get rid of him. The Rabbi thought he
had just not noticed him. Elie prayed to God that he would never leave his father like the
Rabbi’s son had abandoned him.
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21 One conclusion that a reader could draw is that the men were numb to anything other than satisfying
their basic needs. Provide two details from the selection to support this conclusion.
Text-based details may include, but are not limited to:
A. Our first act as free men was to throw ourselves onto the provisions. / Nothing but bread.
B. Not of revenge / No one thought of revenge / But of revenge, not a sign.
C. Not of our families (parents)
D. Get potatoes and clothes
E. To sleep with girls
Note: “Food” was not accepted as a correct answer. You must say either “bread” or “potatoes”.
Students must give two text-based details to earn two points. One text-based detail earns one point.
Example 21.1: Score: 2; text-based details for bullets A,B, and C.
Because they had been so starved, the men only focused on the provisions. “No thought of
revenge, or of parents,” probably because they had been hungry for so long and that’s all
they could think about.
Example 21.2: Score: 1; text-based detail for bullet B .
They went out and found food for them selves And did not seek revenge
Example 21.3: Score: 2; text-based details for bullets A, B, C, A, B, D and E.
One detail to support the conclusion was they thought only of provisions, not revenge, not
even their families, but only bread. Another detail to support the conclusion is they
following day still no one thought of revenge, only clothes, food, and to sleep with girls.
Example 21.4: Score: 0; no text-based details.
They were so numb from the cols the temperatures outside wernt just cold they were
freezing tempertures enough to get people sick and didn’t have much wormth
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23 Based on the information in the story, what inference can you make about what Elie sees in the mirror?
Include information from the story to support your inference.
Text-based information may include, but is not limited to:
Students must give two text-based details to earn two points. One text-based detail earns one point.
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