DAWN chapters 1 and 2

1. Tell why the narrator keeps referring to the crying child. Explain its significance to the story or the evolving theme.

He keeps referring to the crying child because the child symbolizes new life, his Elisha’s emotions, Elisha loses his innocence when he executes John Dawson because Britain has David Ben Moshe’s.

2. Explain how he learns to tell when day changes into night. Why is night “purer” than day?

A beggar taught Elisha how to distinguish the difference between night and day. Night is purer than day because its better for thinking, loving, and dreaming. At night everything is more intense more true. Words take a new and deeper meaning in night.

3. Explain the significance of his seeing his own face when night comes.

When he sees his face he sees him dead because all the other faces that he had seen before were dead. He is already dead inside, a walking corpse.

4. Who is the narrator to kill and why? Is there a difference between killing and execution? Comment on this in relation to the line “We are not murderers.”

The narrator is to kill John Dawson, a captain in the Britain army, because Britain has taken David Ben Moshe. Yes, execution is when you have no way to fight back, but killing someone is in the heat of battle, or when you still have hope. “We are not murderers.” – They are murderers, but they are forced to do so and if the Britain’s relinquished their hold on David Ben Moshe then they would not be forced to be murderers. Therefore, they are simply killers which is slightly less degree in my mind than murderers.

5. “Violence is the only language the English understand.” Is this true only for the English? Explain why or why not.

Violence is a language all animals understand. It does not matter what country you belong to. All animals have the primal instinct of fear and danger. They understand violence and how to protect themselves from it.

6. Why does he feel like he is “falling into a pit’ when told to execute a man?

He feels like he is falling into a pit because he didn’t feel like he should execute a man. He reiterates twice that he shall kill a man tomorrow, which shows that he was shocked and slightly nervous for the upcoming event.

7. Elisha calls himself a “terrorist.” Why does he call himself that and not a freedom fighter?

He calls himself a terrorist because he doesn’t want to do what he has to do but he understands that he needs to in order to get Palestine a safe place.

8. Explain Elisha’s reasons for coming to Paris.

He couldn’t go back to his home because his whole town was occupied by the Russians & he didn’t want to relive his childhood.

9. Describe how Gad “appeared” to Elisha.

Gad was young, tall and slender; he was wearing a raincoat he knocked on Elisha’s door appearing out of nowhere and wanting Elisha’s future.

10. Why does Elisha believe he was a “Meshula” or a messenger? Why does he give it so much importance? P 14

Elisha thinks gad is the messenger because of what Gad does and says. It is important because Gad is asking for Elisha’s life and telling Elisha what he will do with it. He is the messenger of fate. This will flow the ways of Elisha’s future.

11. Discuss and comment on the following lines. You can include what you know about the history of the people involved. “Until this moment I had believed that the mission of the Jews was to represent the trembling of history rather than the wind which made it tremble.”

Jews were supposed to represent the wrong doing in history (ie slaves, holocaust) but now they are the ones making the trouble kicking out the British from Palestine and creating their own country.

12. On page 22 he gives a description of “death.” Explain what it portends for the main character and the book

Death has a thousand eyes, so does night. He thinks that he is death himself in that instance because he says: “night [death] has a thousand eyes, which are mine.” This likely means that the book will be focused on Elisha killing people and his battle within himself to chose weather being death is right or wrong.