Response To Elie Wiesel's Dawn

Everything comes to an end but that doesn’t mean that there is nothing left to explore. In all books, but in Dawn by Elie Wiesel especially, there are so many questions during the book that don’t get answered by the conclusion. Even worse, after the conclusion of the book, there are even more questions to be asked. In this scenario, you are not sure if you loved or hated the book because it feels incomplete. It isn’t a satisfying experience and it is hard to get passed. For me, this book has almost an abrupt ending. Since there is so much built up regarding the death of John Dawson (frankly the build up to this event was the basis of the story), I was hoping that Ellie would give us a resolution to Elisha’s feelings, instead of leaving us on the edge of a cliff.

First off, the end of the story left a bad feeling in my stomach. Although I knew the ending was going to be sad, it didn’t serve the book justice. When Elisha said “the tattered fragment of darkness had a face… the face was my own,” I couldn’t help but cringe. Even though it was a very deep and artistic ending, I wanted at least some closure after Elisha killed John Dawson. He never says that he felt regret, or that he was proud of himself; he really just leaves in the air for the reader. Although we can assume that Elisha feels embarrassment and shame, I think that the reader is left …show more content…
One question that I had at the end of the book was why he shot the bullet if he didn’t want to. After he shot Dawson, Elisha says, “I’ve killed. I’ve killed Elisha” (80). From this excerpt, we can infer that Elisha regretted the decision he made- so why didn’t he resist pulling the trigger There was nothing that was forcing him to shoot right when the clock struck 12 which makes the situation hard to understand. What would have been the consequence if he didn’t shoot at that very moment? If he hesitated would Gad be mad at

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