!! POOR BOY! POOR BOY! !!. Review on Dawn - Elie Wiesel

“In an hour I shall kill him. And yet I didn't really believe it. This hour which separates me from murder will be longer than a lifetime. It will belong, always, to the distant future; it will never be one with the past.”

Is there a reason that can justify killing someone? If I am to kill someone, what would be my state of mind? Is it easy to kill in the name of Religion, Country or Freedom struggle? Can terror co-exist with justice? Does murder call for a murder, despair for revenge? Can Hate Engender anything but Hate?

‘Dawn’ by Elie Wiesel very aptly in a short length of 80 pages concentrate on these thoughtful questions and in a way answer quite a few of them as well. Elisha, a terrorist in the British Controlled Palestine of 1960’s is given the job of killing a captive English officer in retaliation to the execution of their own men. At the same hour of Dawn, two executions are scheduled and Elisha is the killer in one of them. ‘Dawn’ is the story of night, a night of waiting till the Dawn.

Elisha, a young Jewish man, have had his reasons for joining the Movement. He had killed people before, during War and in freedom struggle. But that kind of killing happens instantly with hardly any time to think about; mostly it’s a group act and more of survival game. But the game this time is different, he’s to kill a stranger, a captive, and there is time to kill before that and that’s where the problem lies. All kind of thoughts are knocking on his mind, he has a company of some members of his group but they too are lost in their own thoughts, they too have their conscience to answer to. Whole night he spends in preparing himself for the act, during which time he looks back at his past and at his struggle with life and at the struggle of his people; and tries to find a reason to justify the act. He is afraid of betraying the dead (his father, mother and all important people of his life who are dead now) who, as judges and witnesses, are present with him during the whole act (‘An act so absolute as that of killing involves not only the killer but, as well, those who have formed him. In murdering a man I was making them murderers.’).

Then there is Hate; he knows it’s easy to kill when you hate someone; but where to get it from; how can you hate someone you don’t even know? ("I didn’t hate him at all, but I wanted to hate him. That would have made it all very easy. Hate – like love or faith or war – justifies everything.")

What will the Dawn bring; Death and Darkness or Life and Hope? Will Elisha be able to find the justification before committing the grave act of killing in the name of Hate? Read ‘Dawn’ to find out.

Through ‘Dawn’ Elie Wiesel raises some very important questions and one at very core of it all is: Of Murder. Is it justified; no matter what reason you associate with it? It’s a question to all those who in the name of Faith or Rotten Ideals commits the cruel act of terrorism against the innocent victims.

‘Dawn’ is the 2nd book in the Trilogy of ‘Night’, ‘Dawn’ and ‘Day’ by Elie Wiesel. It quite a short book of merely 80 pages and is written in very simple language with hardly a word to look for in dictionary. But its not a book for enjoyment; it’s a book to reflect upon and learn from; one that provides a reader with different perspective of looking at things. Every page requires some time to spend on to opinions hidden in the words on it. If you are not doing that, you better not read it.

The interactions between the characters are quite interesting to read; like ones between the group waiting outside the room of execution trying to convince Elisha, I better say convince themselves, of the morality of the act. Elisha’s own struggle with the past and the Ghosts of all those who have shaped his life is beautifully depicted. But it’s the final chapter that forms the highlight of the whole book, where Elisha finds the courage and confronts his victim and talks to him before the execution. This conversation between the victim and his executioner forms the most exciting part of the book(And God? He was present, somewhere. Perhaps He was incarnate in the liking with which John inspired me. The lack of hate between executioner and the victim, perhaps this is God.). Does Elisha succeed in finding a reason to hate his victim before the assassination and make the job easy on his conscience? Read to know.

Few more thoughtful quotes that speaks about the book more than any review can are in the comments section.

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PYAR HUMEIN PHIR MILAAEGA.......