Although it reads like a novel, Night is a memoir. Wiesel described it as “an autobiographical story, a kind of testimony of one witness speaking of his own life, his own death.”

The term memoir comes from a Latin word meaning “to remember,” and in his book, Elie Wiesel recalls what he saw and experienced during the period from 1941 to 1945.

From a deeply personal perspective, he shares how his experiences transformed his identity and sense of self.

We will focus on the relationship between the individual and society, linking young Eliezer’s evolving identity with the context of the place where he grew up and, later, with the traumatic events of the Holocaust that so profoundly shaped his life.

We will also consider the relationship between identity, time, and place in our own lives.

Our identity is a combination of many factors. It includes the words and phrases we use to describe ourselves and the labels others place on us.

Gender, ethnicity, religion, occupation, and physical characteristics are all part of one’s identity.

So are ties to a particular neighborhood, school, or nation; our values and beliefs; and the events that have shaped our lives.

Identities are rarely truly fixed or settled; they are constantly shifting in response to our environment and experiences.

“I am myself and my circumstances.”—José Ortega y Gasset

Night Journal Prompt 1

• How could you paraphrase Ortega y Gasset’s words? What do you think he means by “circumstances”? • What is he trying to say about where identity comes from? • Is there a time when his observation has been true in your own experience?

In the next three weeks, we will be reading and discussing an autobiographical story of a young boy’s experiences in Europe during World War II and the Holocaust.

Its important to remember that that boy's life didn't begin and end with the war: He had an identity, a family life, and community.