Theme Lesson for Night by Elie Wiesel

Theme

In this lesson, students will identify, discuss, and write about themes in Elie Wiesel’s Night. Theme is sometimes a difficult concept for students to grasp, but it is essential to their development in literary analysis. Repeatedly remind your students that the theme of a story is the central message or idea. It says something about life, or about being human. Theme is what makes literature compelling and significant to readers.

1. Ask students to list topics from the text.
2. Make a master list on the board with student input. You will end with a list that looks something like the following:
   • the Holocaust
   • faith
   • suffering
   • identity
   • survival instinct
   • human nature
   • civility vs. savagery
3. Explain that these are not themes – they are merely topics. A theme is what the story says about a topic
4. Write the following formula on the board: Topic + Insight = Theme
5. Students should copy this formula into their notes. Stress that theme is more than just topic.
6. Explain that theme is different from a moral. It doesn’t state what people should or should not do. Instead, it says something about what it means to be alive. A moral might be as follows: look before you leap. While the theme from the same story might be as follows: people are often impulsive and hedonistic.
7. You can use ‘faith’ as an example to explore together as a class. Ask your students what the story says about faith. What is the authors message concerning faith? Discuss.

This lesson is continued here: https://teachingnight.com/theme-statements-for-night-by-elie-wiesel/