Moshe Henderson. April 9, 2012. Revolutions and Symbolism of
Dawn. (Chapter 1-2, pages 3-20.)
In Chapter 2, Elisha had been asked to give up everything
and join the revolution in Palestine. This is similar to how the Khmer Rouge
built its own revolution in When Broken
Glass Floats. The Khmer Rouge had forced its civilians to give up
everything they owned though; Elisha had more of a choice. Also, I don’t think
the Jewish revolution has as much control over what Elisha owns and does as the
Khmer Rouge had over the Cambodians. The two different groups used different
tactics to control its people; the Khmer Rouge used fear and power over resources,
and the Jewish revolutionists (Zionists) used a sort of sympathy and bribery.
The Zionists rallied up their people and shared their anger towards the way the
Jewish people had always been treated in the past. The Zionists were actually
representing their people; the Khmer Rouge did not.
The reference to “dawn” is already used multiple times in
this chapter. At first it just refers to the time that David ben Moshe and John
Dawson will be executed. The next time it is referred to as an actual idea and
thing. Gad says that the dawn where Elisha had been staying was gray, but the
dawn in Palestine was red. Somewhere along the lines red had become the color
for revolution, probably because blood is red. (I find it ironic that red also
stands for romance.) Anyways, the reason
the dawn was “gray” where Elisha had been was because the revolution had not
yet sparked there. They would have to go to Palestine and join the revolution
there in order for it to spread to rest of the world (as it had when they
kidnapped John Dawson).
(I also wanted to write that it was cool to see part of my
name in the book. I usually don’t see my name too often in literature unless it
is referring to Moshe Dayan or the book takes place in a Jewish community. This
book takes place in a Jewish community. “Moshe” means “drawn from the water” by
the way.)
