Introduction

STEP 1 Orientation (opening sentence/s): Introduce the text, author and key
themes.
Examples:
In Night, Elie Wiesel recounts the brutal experiences of his life as a prisoner in
the Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust.
In his moving memoir Night, Elie Wiesel reflects ten years after the
experiences that transform his life completely, and forces him to reconsider his
behaviour as he struggled for survival in the death camps of Buna, Birkenau and
Auschwitz.
Elie Wiesels aptly titled memoir Night relives the horror of the Jewish
Holocaust experience.
STEP 2 Explain (following sentences): Explain the prompt in your own words,
so that it reflects the direction of your response
Examples:
Prompt: Although the tone of Wiesels memoir is predominantly dark, there are
moments where hope triumphs. It is faith rather than despair that is the prevailing
mood. To what extent do you agree?
Explanation: Although his memoir is littered with acts of mans inhumanity
to man and overshadowed by the absence of a just God, the instances of
compassion and faith prove superior - leaving audiences with a sense of hope
for humanitys ability to understand and learn from the barbarity of the
Jewish experience.
Prompt: Throw out all the dead! Outside, all the corpses! Wiesel uses Night to
demonstrate the worst of human nature.
Explanation: Throughout the text, Wiesel bears witness to immense
brutality suffered by prisoners at the hands of the guards and even their fellow
prisoners. He explores the very depths humans sink to in the face of horrific
emotional and physical brutality.
STEP 3 List (three sentences): you should organise your three arguments and
list them here.
Example:
(1) Wiesel reflects on the deterioration of his belief in God after he witnesses
increasingly inhumane acts by both guards and Jewish prisoners. (2) He compares
his own faith to that of Moishe the Beadle and Akiba Drumer, deeply religious men

who struggle to maintain hope when their confidence in Gods mercy is shattered in
places like Auschwitz. (3) However, the moments of compassion from the French
girl, the Young Pole and even Elies own acts towards his father, restricts the tone of
despair that permeates much of Elies camp life. Instead, the reader is left with the
opportunity to hope, as Elie does, that the reader might at least understand.

Body Paragraphs
Each of your body paragraphs should have the same format. Each paragraph
discusses one (1) of the arguments that you listed in your introduction.
Topic Sentence: What is this paragraph about? What point are you
trying to make in this paragraph?
Evidence: The evidence you use can be either a direct quote from the
novel or an example from the novel that you write in your own words. You
should have at least TWO pieces of evidence for each topic sentence.
Explain: Once you have provided your proof, you must explain how
and why your selected examples/quotes prove the point you have made (in
your topic sentence).
Linking sentence: Your linking sentence should finish your paragraph
and link back to the prompt.
The brutality of human nature is first introduced by Moishe the Beadle, as he
recounts the horrors he witnessed and subsequently came to warn Sighet about.
Moishes role in the book is both symbolic and literal. He returns after witnessing
the massacre to warn his friends, to share the horrors he witnessed - babies being
used for target practice, slaughtered like animals. Such brutality it impossible for
the Jews to comprehend, they refuse to believe that such barbaric acts could be
inflicted upon humanity. It is not until young Elie begins to experience these
offences first hand, in the ghettos and later the cattle cars, that he begins to
believe. In one of his many interjections, with the knowledge of hindsight, Wiesel
explains that the ghetto was ruled by neither German nor Jew, it was ruled by
delusion (p.12). Symbolically, Moishe may represent the angels warning the Jews of
danger and delivering them to safety. However, the people of Sighet misinterpret
Moishes intentions, believing he was mad and desperate. Until faced with the
cruelty themselves, the Jews are unable to believe the potential of mans
inhumanity to man.

Conclusion
This is the final comment that ties all the points in the essay together. Your
conclusion does not have to be very long - two sentences are sufficient.
Example: The dominant impression left by Night is of horror and suffering, where
mans inhumanity to man is all too prevalent. Readers bear witness to Jews

subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment, not only by Nazis but also by their
fellow prisoners. However, the text is not without hope; we see the kind actions of a
few, who overcome their base instincts to treat each other with kindness and
respect. In this text the world has a constant reminder of the depths to which
mankind can sink and cruelty which individuals are capable of.