How to do a Dialectical Notebook Night by

How to do a Dialectical Notebook Night, by Elie Wiesel

What is a Dialectical Notebook? n. A Dialectical Notebook is a double or triple-entry journal. n. On one side are passages or words copied out of the text. n. On the other side are responses to the quotes that you wrote on the left. n. The purpose of a Dialectical Notebook is to keep a record of annotations, and to guide one’s own reading and analysis.

Format n n n In the left column, you will write the quote that you are responding to from the text. Be sure to cite the page number of the quote. If you are referring to a long passage, write the situation or description without quotes, but still write the page number and paragraph, if applicable. In the center column, write your question, analysis, or response. In the right column, discuss which role you think the character(s) in the situation is/are playing: Bystander, Victim, Persecutor. Be sure to support your ideas with evidence and reasoning. Your entries should do more than just point out sentence structure and literary devices; you should be looking for the author’s purpose or commenting on how the literary device works in the context it is used. YOU SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST ONE ENTRY FOR EVERY TWO PAGES!!!

Dialectical Journal/Notebook/ Sample Quote or Evidence from Text Response, Question, or Analysis Bystander/Persecuto r/Victim n “He had mastered the art of rendering himself insiginifcant, invisible…. Physically, he was as awkward as a clown” (3). n This simile indicates that Moishe the Beadle is not taken seriously. He seems to amuse people while not bothering them or getting in their way. • Moishe the Beadle is a victim of the community’s stereotypes about poor people, or even a victim of their silence. Is he invisible by choice? It is possible that he is both a victim and a bystander. n “One day I asked my father to find me a master who could guide me in my studies of Kabbalah” (4). n Why does Elie’s father hold him back from studying what he wants? • In this conflict, the father is a bystander, since he is not helping his son to seek knowledge and understanding about religion.

Questions? ?