[Updated] Night Trigger Warning List

Hi, everyone! I'm back with the updated version of the trigger warning list for Night by Elie Wiesel. There is still a chance that I missed some things, so let me know if you find anything, but I think that I've got most of it listed. This is the second to last trigger warning list that I'm doing for my ex-high school. Once I'm done with the last one (Romeo and Juliet), I'm going to do my best to start creating new trigger warning lists for other books. If you have any recommendations or if you have any books you'd like to have a list for, feel free to comment below. 

[Important: Please note that trigger warnings are not necessarily to make it so that you can just avoid the content. There is a fairly popular mistaken belief that trigger warnings are censorship. That is not true. Trigger warnings exist so that, if you are sensitive to the content, you are made aware of it before it occurs and surprises you. This gives you a chance to prepare yourself mentally before reading it so that it does not affect you as negatively as it might if you didn’t know that it was going to happen. Also, please note that if you rely on triggers for the shock-value or plot twists (aka, “Well I can’t use trigger warnings because they’re spoilers!”), you aren’t a very good writer and you definitely aren’t taking into consideration the potential sensitivity of your audience.]

Triggers, listed in order of the number of occurrences: death, violence, ableist language, anti-Semitism, slurs, suicide, sexism, sexual content, and sexual assault.

There aren’t labeled chapters in the novel, and I believe that they are officially referred to as “sections,” but I listed them as chapters because that is what I’m used to.

The paragraph numbers and a general summary of each are listed on the following pages. For reference, the italicized numbers in the parenthesis are the page numbers in my book, and the total number of paragraphs in each chapter are listed below:

Preface - 58

Foreword - 22

Chapter 1 -  188

Chapter 2 - 63

Chapter 3 - 186

Chapter 4 - 212

Chapter 5 - 204

Chapter 6 - 125

Chapter 7 - 59

Chapter 8 - 105

Chapter 9 - 27

Death

Entirely unsurprisingly, there is a lot of death in this novel. As usual, if I felt that something needed a more in-depth warning, I provided a short summary.

• Paragraphs 5 (vii), 22 (xi), and 56 (xv) of the preface.
• In paragraph 8 (viii) of the preface, there is a mention of the mass murder of Jewish people by way of forcing them to dig a mass grave, shooting them, burying them, and then disinterring and burning their bodies.
• In paragraphs 10 (ix) and 13 (x) of the preface, there is a mention of the murder of women, children, and old men.
• In paragraphs 23 (xi) through 39 (xii) of the preface a man is beaten when he is already at the edge of death.
• In paragraph 48 (xiii) of the preface, there is a mention of burning babies alive.
• In paragraphs 2 (xviii), 3, 6 (xix), and 9 of the foreword, there are brief mentions of the deaths of children and other people in the gas chambers and crematoria.
• Paragraphs 3 (xviii), 4, 5 (xix), 12, 15, 16 (xx), and 22 (xxi) of the foreword.
• In paragraphs 16 (xx) and 22 (xxi) of the foreword, there are brief mentions of the hanging of a child.
• Paragraphs 17 (5), 39 (7), 59 (9), 66 (10), 67, 70 (11), 75, 100 (13), 131 (16), 137 (17), 161 (19), and 186 (22) of chapter 1.
• In paragraphs 30 (6), 31, of chapter 1, a man talks about a group of Jewish people being forced to dig their own graves and then shot.
• In paragraph 30 (6) of chapter 1, there is a mention of throwing babies into the air and using them for target practice.
• In paragraphs 7 (24) and 9 of chapter 2, there are mentions of shooting people.
• In paragraph 63 (28) of chapter 2, there is a brief mention of the smell of burning flesh.
• Paragraphs 24 (30), 30 (31), 61 (33), 64, 73 (34), 76, 85 (35), 88 (36), 109 (38), 124 (40), 135 (41), and 176 (45) of chapter 3.
• In paragraphs 27 (31), 51 (32), 54, 57 (33), 58 through 60, and 112 (39) of chapter 3, there is a mention of being burned to death.
• In paragraphs 52 (32) and 70 (34) of chapter 3, babies and children are burned to death.
• In paragraph 80 (35) of chapter 3, someone is forced to put his own father’s body into a furnace.
• Paragraphs 1 (47), 54 (51), 147 (59), 148, 152 (60), and 211 (65) of chapter 4.
• In paragraphs 42 (50) and 174 (62) of chapter 4, there is a brief mention of people being killed in Birkenau and Auschwitz.
• In paragraph 62 (52) of chapter 4, there is a brief mention of someone who is going to be hanged.
• In paragraph 143 (59) of chapter 4, there is a brief mention of shooting people.
• In paragraph 148 (60) of chapter 4, a man is shot.
• In paragraph 172 (62) through 185 (63) of chapter 4, someone is hanged.
• In paragraphs 195 (64) through 207 (65) of chapter 4, people are hanged, including a young boy.
• In paragraph 212 (65) of chapter 4, there is a mention of dead bodies.
• Paragraphs 5 (67), 23 (69), 31 (70), 36, 38 (71), 82 (74), 102 (76), 108 (77) through 110, 123 (78), 125, 167 (82), 189 (83) and 196 (84) of chapter 5.
• In paragraph 11 (67) and 15 (68) of chapter 5, there is a mention of the deaths and suffering caused by the Holocaust.
• In paragraphs 30 (70) and 54 (72) of chapter 5, there is a mention of crematoriums.
• In paragraph 31 (70) of chapter 5, there is a mention of dead bodies.
• In paragraph 165 (81) of chapter 5, there is a brief mention of being killed and then cremated.
• In paragraphs 4 (85) and 7 (86) of chapter 6, there are mentions of shooting people.
• In paragraph 16 (86) of chapter 6, there is a mention of someone being trampled to death.
• Paragraphs 17 (86), 18, 23 (87), 36 (89) through 38, 69 (92), 72, 92 (93), 99 (94) through 101, 105, 106, 111 (95), and 121 (96) of chapter 6.
• In paragraphs 37 (89), 38, 42, 45 (90), 53, 57, and 112 (95) of chapter 6, there are dead bodies.
• In paragraph 121 (96) of chapter 6, people are shot.
• Paragraphs 1 (98) through 3, 17 (99), 18, 22, 23, 49 (103), 51 through 53, and 57 of chapter 7.
• In paragraphs 7 (99), 10, and 22 of chapter 7, there are dead bodies.
• In paragraph 55 (103) of chapter 7, there is a mention of shooting people.
• In paragraph 4 (104) of chapter 8, there is a brief mention of a crematorium.
• Paragraphs 9 (105), 12, 13, 22, 23, 25 (106), 40 (107), 48 (108), 86 (110), and 104 (112) of chapter 8.
• In paragraphs 10 (105) and 18 of chapter 8, there are dead bodies.
• In paragraph 103 (112) of chapter 8, there is a mention of a man being cremated, possibly while he was still alive.
• Paragraphs 1 (113) and 24 (115) of chapter 9.
• In paragraph 11 (114) of chapter 9, there is a mention of shooting people.  
• In paragraph 26 (115) of chapter 9, someone says that he looks like a corpse.

Violence

Violence was common in the concentration camps, so its unsurprising that there’s quite a bit in this novel. The instances that I noted are as follows:

• In paragraphs 28 (xi), 33 (xii), and 34 of the preface, there is an excerpt from the original Yiddish version of the novel that includes a man being beaten.
• In paragraphs 124 (16), 140 (18) , and 159 (19) of chapter 1, people are hit with the butts of guns and clubs.
• In paragraph 36 (26), 38, 42, and 52 (27) of chapter 2, a woman is beaten because she won’t stop screaming.
• In paragraph 60 (28) of chapter 2, people are hit with sticks.
• In paragraph 6 (30) of chapter 3, an old man at least hit with, if not shot by, a revolver.
• In paragraphs 77 (35) and 81 of chapter 3, people are hit with sticks.
• In paragraphs 91 (36), 107 (38), and 121 (40) of chapter 3, people are beaten.
• In paragraph 117 (39) of chapter 3, someone is slapped.
• In paragraphs 65 (53), 80 (54), 81, 94 (54), and 97 of chapter 4, people are beaten.
• In paragraphs 123 (57) through 132 (58) of chapter 4, someone is whipped until they pass out.
• In paragraph 191 (63) of chapter 4, there is a mention of an old man being beaten by his son.
• In paragraphs 193 (64) and 194 of chapter 4, there are mentions of people being tortured.
• In paragraph 114 (77) of chapter 5, there is a brief mention of being hit.
• In paragraph 58 (91) of chapter 6, there is a brief mention of being hit.
• In paragraph 26 (100) of chapter 7, two children try to strangle each other.
• In paragraphs 29 (101) through 33 (102) of chapter 7, people fight, occasionally to the death, for bread.
• In paragraphs 36 (102) and 38 through 40 of chapter 7, someone is almost strangled.
• In paragraphs 8 (105), 66 (109), 68, 70, 74 (110), and 96 (111) of chapter 8, there are brief mentions of people being beaten.
• In paragraph 64 (109) of chapter 8, there is a mention of wanting to strangle people and to set the world on fire.
• In paragraphs 19 (115) and 20 of chapter 9, a resistance movement violently takes over Buchenwald.

Ableist Language

Most of the ableist language in this novel was the word mad and its related terms.

• In paragraph 3 (vii) of the preface, the words mad and madness are used.
• In paragraph 29 (xi) of the preface, the phrase “deaf to” is used.
• In paragraphs 4 (xviii) and 20 (xx) of the foreword, the words blindness and deaf are used in place of a better, less ableist word (like ignorance, for example).
• In paragraph 4 (xix) of the foreword, the word madman is used.
• In paragraphs 32 (7), 36, and 113 (15) of chapter 1, the word mad is used.
• In paragraph 124 (16) pf chapter 1, the word cripple is used.
• In paragraphs 20 (25), 32 (26), and 37 of chapter 2, the word mad is used.
• In paragraph 25 (30) of chapter 3, the word moron is used.
• In paragraph 76 (34) of chapter 3, the word crazed is used.
• In paragraph 105 (38) of chapter 3, the word crazy is used.
• In paragraph 134 (41) of chapter 3, the word madly is used.
• In paragraph 31 (50) of chapter 4, the word madness is used.
• In paragraph 106 (94) of chapter 6, the word madman is used.

Anti-Semitism

While pretty much all of the violence in this novel can be attributed to anti-Semitism, I only put specifically stated anti-Semitism in this section. The rest is in other sections, such as death and violence.

• In paragraphs 8 (viii) and 9 of the preface, there is a brief mention of the anti-Jewish sentiment and goals of the Nazis.
• In paragraph 42 (xii) of the preface, there is a mention of the anti-Semitic belief that the Holocaust was a hoax.
• In paragraphs 47 (8) and 48 of chapter 1, there is a mention of the Nazi plan to exterminate all Jewish people.
• In paragraph 56 (9) of chapter 1, there is a mention of anti-Semitic violence taking place in Budapest.
• In paragraph 150 (80) of chapter 5, there is a brief mention of Hitler’s plan to exterminate all Jewish people.
• In paragraphs 2 (85) through 4 of chapter 6, Jewish people are called dogs.

Slurs

The word gypsy is a slur against the Romani people. It was used in the following paragraphs.

• In paragraphs 101 (37), 115 (39), 117, 121 (40), and 125 of chapter 3, the word gypsy is used.

Suicide

Most of the suicide mentions in this novel were of suicidal ideation, not actual scenes of suicide, but I noted those nonetheless.

• In paragraph 25 (30) of chapter 3, there is a mention of hanging yourself.
• In paragraphs 60 (33) and 64 of chapter 3, someone mentions wanting to kill themselves rather than be burned to death.
• In paragraph 38 (50) of chapter 4, someone says “don’t kill yourself” about working too hard.
• In paragraph 147 (59) of chapter 4, there is a brief mention of committing suicide.

Sexism

The only real sexism that I noted in this novel was in paragraphs 21 (30) and 27 (31) of chapter 3, where the word bitch is used.

Sexual Content

• In paragraph 110 (57) of chapter 4, there is a mention of people having sex.
• In paragraph 23 (115) of chapter 9, there is a brief mention of going to town to sleep with girls.

Sexual Assault

• In paragraph 7 (48) of chapter 4, there is a mention of the, presumably sexual, trafficking of children among gay men. Though it’s not explicitly stated (the main character is in the male sector of the camps), I would be highly surprised if the same thing did not happen with straight men as well.

A Note for Teachers or Librarians: If you want to distribute these lists to your students or have them available to patrons, I can format the text into a singular sheet of paper (or as close to a single sheet of paper I can get)--either as a flyer or a tri-fold brochure. Let me know if you want that; My rates are variable and low, as I don't want to create a paywall to accessibility.

Love always,
Sam

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