What is the setting in Chapter 6 of night?

The SS guards fire on anyone who cannot keep up with the march. At Elie's side, a Polish lad, Zalman, gets a stomach cramp and falls behind. Elie guesses that the others trample Zalman to death. As Elie is reminded of the pain in his foot, death seems to draw closer. Only the thought of his father keeps Elie moving. For the prisoners, the only thing that matters is survival:

"We were masters of nature, masters of the world. We had forgotten everything-death, fatigue, our natural needs. Stronger than cold or hunger, stronger than the shots and the desire to die, condemned and wandering, mere numbers, we were the only men on earth." Chapter 6, pg. 83

Topic Tracking: Memory 6
Topic Tracking: Death 7

After covering a distance of more than forty-two miles, finally, they are allowed to rest. Many prisoners, including Elie and his father, force their way into a roofless brick factory. Elie falls asleep in the snow until his father wakes him up. They force themselves outside, but seeing no other place to rest, they re-enter the shed. All around lay bodies, some just frozen corpses, others, getting some rest so that they can set out again. Elie wakes his father up and sees him smile. "I shall always remember that smile. From which world did it come?" Chapter 6, pg. 86 Elie bewilderingly asks.

Topic Tracking: Memory 7

Just then, Rabbi Elihou, enters the shed and asks if anyone has seen his son. The rabbi is well known and loved by everyone and his presence is said to bring people genuine peace and comfort. He asks Elie if he has seen his son. Elie has not. As the rabbi leaves, Elie suddenly remembers seeing the rabbi's son deliberately run ahead of his father in order to get rid of him-a dead weight. Elie is horrified at the thought that a son could do so, but is also comforted that Rabbi Eliahou would continue looking for his beloved son. Elie prays to a God that he no longer believes in, to give him the strength not to be like the rabbi's son.

Topic Tracking: Faith 7

The march resumes again as the snow starts to fall. The surviving prisoners walk for several more hours until they reach Gleiwitz. They are thrown into overcrowded barracks where they lie on top of one another. There, Elie hears the voice of his friend, Juliek. A body on top of Elie almost suffocates him to death. Elie is barely able to free himself. In the room full of dying men, Elie suddenly hears the sound of Juliek's violin. He plays Beethoven's concerto. The next day, Elie awakes to see Juliek dead, his violin crushed. To this day, when he hears Beethoven's concerto, Elie Wiesel remembers Juliek's concert: "How could I forget that concert, given to an audience of dying and dead men!" Chapter 6, pg. 90

Topic Tracking: Memory 8

After three days in the barracks of Gleiwitz without any bread or water, the prisoners are forced to march again because the Russian front is advancing. There is another selection where Elie's father is chosen. Elie somehow manages to cause such confusion that his father is able to sneak back to the other side. While they wait for the train, the prisoners eat their meager ration of bread. For water, they eat the snow accumulated on each other's backs. The guards find this amusing. The train arrives in the evening and the Jews are packed in, one hundred to a carriage.

The prisoners run for miles through the snow dressed in layers of clothing. Those who fall behind are shot like "[a] filthy dog." Eliezer describes himself and the others as automatons. Eliezer tries to encourage the young man next to him, Zalman, but Zalman falls and is crushed by the others. In excruciating pain from his injured foot, Eliezer dreams of and is fascinated by death but is inspired to keep on because of his father's presence.

After 42 miles, they get to take a break at an abandoned village. Eliezer and his father agree to take turns sleeping. They know too much sleep will mean death. When Eliezer wakes his father, he says, "Then he smiled. I shall always remember that smile. What world did it come from?" A man beloved and respected by everyone, Rabbi Eliahu, comes by, looking for his son. They have endured three years together and now are separated. Realizing that the son deliberately parted from his father when he saw him slowing down, Eliezer prays to a "God in whom I no longer believed" that he would never abandon his own father.

The men arrive at their destination, Gleiwitz. As a mass of prisoners pile into a barrack, Juliek, whom Eliezer knows, is nearly crushed. Juliek has his violin with him and is worried that it will be broken. Later that night, Juliek plays his violin. "Never before had I heard such a beautiful sound," says Eliezer of Juliek's concert. When Eliezer awakens the next morning, he sees Juliek dead with his violin next to him.

They stay in Gleiwitz for three days without food or drink. The men are kept in the barracks and can hear cannon blasts; they are moved again after a selection. Eliezer's father is selected for extermination, but Eliezer creates a distraction and is able to bring his father to the side of those considered healthy enough to be allowed to continue on. After marching out of the camp, the men are given a ration of bread and start eating snow off each other as a way to quench their thirst. Eventually, the men are loaded onto an open cattle car for transport.

Analysis

The death march is brutal. Traveling under wintry conditions would be difficult for healthy people in good shape. The prisoners, of course, are malnourished, improperly dressed, and sleep-deprived. Eliezer is no longer a person but simply a body. He repeats to himself, "Don't think, don't stop, run!" His body has been abused beyond any reasonable measure, yet he has the will to survive the march.

The death march becomes a race for life. Eliezer says the men were "the masters of nature ... We had transcended everything—death, fatigue, our natural needs." They seem to be inspired by the others around them to continue on. It is only when they stop moving that they falter. Zalman gives up, falls down, and is trampled—movement means life. While Eliezer is running, he dreams of death and the peace it can bring. However, he is more concerned and fearful regarding death when taking a break at the abandoned village.

Eliezer is inspired to continue running for his father's sake; he does not want his father to see him die. He keeps his father from sleeping too much so he won't freeze to death and tries to wake up another sleepy inmate, following advice he was given on his first night that working together is the key to survival. Not everyone heeds this advice. After three years of suffering together, Rabbi Eliahu's son seems to have decided to leave his father behind. While saddened over this decision, Eliezer understands. He turns to God and prays, "Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu's son has done."

The power of music has kept Juliek alive. He adds to his burden by carrying his violin while running. When he somehow manages to free himself from the human mass that has formed on top of him, he plays his violin. The image of him playing beautifully in the cold dark night for the mass of half-dead men is haunting. Readers see a similar resilience in the smile that Eliezer's father has when he is woken by his son.