One. Wiesel’s motives, to tell the truth about something so evil no one would believe it. People would deny evil with tragic consequences. Talk about denial, acclimation, consequences, Holocaust deniers, the importance of witnessing and the tragedy of commoditization of the Holocaust satirized in a novel. Talk about the denial of the Holocaust in Turkey against the Armenians.
Two. Talk about Wiesel’s pre-Holocaust faith in justice and his idea of a god rooted in innocence. Write about the loss of innocence as a turning point that often results in one extreme or another, bitterness or growth. You might also talk about theodicy.
Three. Write about nihilism, Bart Ehrman’s God’s Problem, Job, and the problem of evil, suffering and the belief in divine omnipotence. What do you do when the god you believed in no longer exists? Where do you go when your whole belief system is stripped from you? Talk about Dostoevsky who said that if God does not exist then all is permitted. Can we have values without God? Bring in that essay by Elizabeth Anderson (name?) from Hitchens anthology and the book by Sam Harris.
Four. Argue that Wiesel, by the very act of writing Night, is not a nihilist, that bearing witness to evil is part of his struggle to fight against evil. Wiesel believes in struggling to be your best in a world of evil and to warn us about the dangers of evil when we live in a false innocence of denial. You should bring in Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.
Five. Writing Assignments
One. In a 5-page essay, compare Wiesel’s ordeal with that of Job’s, especially in the context of theodicy.
Two. In a 5-page essay, argue whether or not Wiesel has salvaged a moral code from his ordeal or has succumbed to nihilism.
Links
Man's Search for Meaning Study Guide
Faculty Reading Guide to Man's Search for Meaning
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