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The book I read for my book review was Dawn, bye Elie Wiesel. This story
represents the post WWII struggle of the Israeli freedom fighters – one young
man in particular, who has found himself on the other side of the gun. Wiesel
himself severed his time in the death camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald during
the War, and had previously written Night, the memoirs of his experiences. The
purpose of this book, in my mind, was to express the inner most thoughts and the
anguish of Elisha. Elisha is 18 years old. He was recruited by a gentleman named
Gad, who turned him into a fighter. He has killed before for their cause, but
only in groups – never alone. “… Our bullets were a flaming wall on which their
lives were shattered… My five comrades and I set out to either kill or to be
killed.” Pg28.
But now, Elisha wasn’t in a group. He had been ordered to execute
an English officer, John Dawson, as to compensate for the British capturing
David ben Moshe, one of their own. In tradition, executions always took place at
dawn in their culture; usually around 5AM. Elisha has less than twelve hours
before he will be labeled as a murderer for the rest of his life. He’s having a
difficult time coming to the reality that he is going to have to kill a man on
his own. “I should forget this night. But the dead never forget… In their eyes I
should be forever branded a killer.” Pg69. Of course, then again, if anyone were
put into that position – having to kill a man, who has done nothing wrong except
be born of English blood – I think they would be having some serious issues with
themselves as well. In the Jewish tradition, there is a lot of focus on and
towards nighttime. Night is a very important in that “Night is purer than day;
it is better for thinking and loving and dreaming. At night everything is more
intense, more true. The echo of words that have been spoken during the day take
on a new and deeper meaning. The tragedy of man is that he doesn’t know how to
distinguish between night and day. He says things at night that should only be
said by day.” Pg4. Also, according to their realigion, at midnight, the dead
rise and go to the synagogue to pray. At one point, during the night before
Dawson’s death, Elisha sees the ghosts of his parents, and old Master, of his
fiend Yerachmiel, and of a little beggar boy.
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