Dawn

by Elie Wiesel, Frances Frenaye (Translator)

Overview

Two men wait through the night in British-controlled Palestine for dawn—and for death. One is a captured English officer. The other is Elisha, a young Israeli freedom fighter whose assignment is to kill the officer in reprisal for Britain's execution of a Jewish prisoner. Elisha's past is the nightmare memory of Nazi death camps. He is the only surviving member of his family. His future is a cherished dream of life in the promised homeland. But at daybreak his present will become the tortured reality of a principled man ordered to commit cold-blooded murder. Resonant with feeling, Dawn is an unforgettable journey into the human heart—and an eloquent statement about the moral basis of the new Israel."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780756972264
Publisher:	Perfection Learning Corporation
Publication date:	09/01/2006
Pages:	81
Sales rank:	703,420
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.25(d)
Lexile:	740L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) is the author of more than fifty books, including Night, his harrowing account of his experiences in Nazi concentration camps. The book, first published in 1955, was selected for Oprah's Book Club in 2006, and continues to be an important reminder of man's capacity for inhumanity. Wiesel was Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University, and lived with his family in New York City. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.

Hometown:

New York, New York

Date of Birth:

September 30, 1928

Place of Birth:

Sighet, Romania

Education:

La Sorbonne

Reading Group Guide

Questions for Discussion

1. What contemporary insights does Elie Wiesel's preface yield? How was your reading affected by this nonfiction commentary preceding a novel?

2. In a lecture delivered as he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, Wiesel reiterated his belief that while it is crucial to remember the past, a "holy war" is a contradiction in terms. What does Dawn reveal about the makings of a "holy warrior"? Could Elisha's dream for Israel have been realized without war? Discuss your reactions to Elisha's recruitment, in which Gad promises to turn his future into "an outcry first of despair and then of hope. And finally a shout of triumph."

3. Early in the novel, Elisha recalls his childhood encounter with a beggar, whom he meets in a synagogue. What does the beggar's advice about distinguishing night from day indicate about the nature of dawn? How does this advice influence Elisha as he looks into the faces of his fellow human beings throughout Dawn?

4. Do you agree with Ilana's assertion in her Voice of Freedom broadcast that she and her fellow fighters are not murderers, but that the Cabinet ministers are? How does Elisha view God's commandment not to kill?

5. How were you affected by the narrator's recollections of Catherine from his days in Paris? What does this scene tell us about his experience with love, and its inability to restore his former life with his family?

6. Does the memory of Elisha's parents weigh on his conscience? Does it spur his admiration for the freedom fighters, or does it make him feel shame? Had they survived the Holocaust, would his parents have shared his passion for Zionism?

7. Characterize the Old Man's influence over the other characters in the novel. What is the source of his power? Is he wise?

8. Discuss the scene in which Elisha's fellow soldiers recall the various ways in which they escaped a brush with death. How do they view death and fate? How do they view their ability to save a life?

9. Like Elisha, the reader does not meet John Dawson until the end of the novel. Were you surprised by his personality? Did he meet Elisha's expectations? What is the nature of their conversation? Why might Dawson think he could persuade Elisha to spare his life?

10. What motivates Elisha to go through with killing Dawson? Were you surprised to see him do it at precisely the moment Dawson uttered his name? Does Elisha seem to achieve his intended result?

11. Inhabited by ghosts, with a timeline in which memories are always present, is Dawn a surrealistic novel? Or is it a quite realistic portrait of a Holocaust survivor?

12. As in Night, Wiesel concludes Dawn with an image of the narrator seeing his own face. How does Elisha's image of himself compare to Eliezer's image of himself after being freed from the Nazis?

Editorial Reviews

The anguish and loss of the moral Jew who has placed himself on the other side of the gun” —Commentary

“Shines gemlike with delicate writing,” —Saturday Review

From the Publisher