"Do not hang a young man whose only crime is fidelity to his ideal."
Wiesel's Dawn beautifully approaches the philosophy behind war deaths and the morals associated with soldiers dying for their country. It's honestly fascinating to watch the contrast and similarities just in the first two chapters of the scheduled executions of David ben Moshe and John Dawson. Wiesel does an incredible job of using the radio as a literary machine to display the opposing worldviews and ideals at play. The "Voice of Freedom" has a few different pieces and paragraphs that are chilling, such as the spoken explanation to Dawson's mother: "No, Mrs. Dawson, we are not murderers. Your Cabinet members are murderers; they are responsible for the death of your son... your government made him our enemy and by the same token signed his death warrant." The entire book brought up a lot of my thoughts about Survival In Auschwitz and how people perceive or make judgments on Hitler and Germany as a whole throughout the Holocaust. It's really difficult to lay down absolutes regarding what's truly "fair" or ethical when it comes to wartime death.
On a less constructive note, I thought the theme of night was really well-written (I'm a night owl myself.) And it was also sort of shocking to consider this happening when Elisha was 18- I'm 18 too. I can't fathom what it would be like to be in his situation.
Edit: I commented on Logan and Rachael's posts.
Wiesel's Dawn beautifully approaches the philosophy behind war deaths and the morals associated with soldiers dying for their country. It's honestly fascinating to watch the contrast and similarities just in the first two chapters of the scheduled executions of David ben Moshe and John Dawson. Wiesel does an incredible job of using the radio as a literary machine to display the opposing worldviews and ideals at play. The "Voice of Freedom" has a few different pieces and paragraphs that are chilling, such as the spoken explanation to Dawson's mother: "No, Mrs. Dawson, we are not murderers. Your Cabinet members are murderers; they are responsible for the death of your son... your government made him our enemy and by the same token signed his death warrant." The entire book brought up a lot of my thoughts about Survival In Auschwitz and how people perceive or make judgments on Hitler and Germany as a whole throughout the Holocaust. It's really difficult to lay down absolutes regarding what's truly "fair" or ethical when it comes to wartime death.
On a less constructive note, I thought the theme of night was really well-written (I'm a night owl myself.) And it was also sort of shocking to consider this happening when Elisha was 18- I'm 18 too. I can't fathom what it would be like to be in his situation.
Edit: I commented on Logan and Rachael's posts.
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