Chapter 4 - pp. 45-62 of Night 1. What were the objectives of the medical examinations?2. Why were the Jewish musicians not allowed to play music by Beethoven?3. Describe one of Idek’s bouts of madness.4. How did Elie initially avoid losing his gold crown?5. Whom did Elie meet years later on the Paris Metro?6. What happened when Elie refused to give his crown to Franek?  What was the result?7. Describe the scene with the soup cauldrons.8. During one of the preliminary “ceremonies” for a hanging, what did Juliek whisper to Elie?  What does this suggest?9. During one hanging, Elie and the other prisoners cried.  What made this hanging different from others?

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In chapter four of Night by Elie Wiesel, the main character describes what life was like inside the concentration camp. The following answers address the above questions and expand on the context of the events when clarification is needed.

  1. In the camp, the medical examinations served at least two purposes. While the exams were intended to assess the health of the prisoners, the true intention was to weed out those that were unhealthy. As they were paraded before the doctors, they asked each of them if they were in good health. If a Jew was sick, weak, or diseased, this was seen as a waste of resources, and of no benefit to the workload; furthermore, any sick person posed the risk of spreading infection. Eliezer hints at this fact by rhetorically asking, “Who would have dared to admit the opposite?” (48). The second function of the examinations was to survey their mouths for gold fillings and crowns. These valuable bits of precious metal were later extracted for their value. Eliezer...

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