Dawn

by

Elie Wiesel

Gad is the compelling young terrorist who recruits Elisha to join the Movement in Palestine and oversees his training there. Gad tracks down Elisha in Paris and claims to know everything about him. Elisha entrusts his future to Gad because to him, Gad’s fiery gaze and prophetic voice make him resemble a messenger from God; the desire to please Gad is a strong motivation for Elisha. Gad is fully committed to the Movement’s ideology and believes that Jewish people have put up with persecution for too long and must learn to fight back violently. David ben Moshe is a lifelong friend of Gad’s and was captured during an operation Gad commanded, so he’s especially bitter and vengeful about David’s impending execution.

Gad Quotes in Dawn

The Dawn quotes below are all either spoken by Gad or refer to Gad. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Revenge, Terrorism, and War Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

"You want my future?" I asked. "What will you do with it?"

He smiled again, but in a cold, distant manner as one who possesses a power over men. "I'll make it into an outcry," he said, and there was a strange light in his dark eyes. "An outcry first of despair and then of hope. And finally a shout of triumph."

Related Characters: Elisha (speaker), Gad (speaker)
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:

Gad's stories were utterly fascinating. I saw in him a prince of Jewish history, a legendary messenger sent by fate to awaken my imagination, to tell the people whose past was now their religion: Come, come; the future is waiting for you with open arms. From now on you will no longer be humiliated, persecuted, or even pitied. You will not be strangers encamped in an age and a place that are not yours. Come, brothers, come!

Related Characters: Elisha (speaker), Gad
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

We don't like to be bearers of death; heretofore we've chosen to be victims rather than executioners. The commandment Thou shalt not kill was given from the summit of one of the mountains here in Palestine, and we were the only ones to obey it. But that's all over; we must be like everybody else. Murder will be not our profession but our duty. In the days and weeks and months to come you will have only one purpose: to kill those who have made us killers. We shall kill in order that once more we may be men[.]

Related Characters: Gad (speaker), Elisha
Page Number: 23
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Dawn LitChart as a printable PDF.
Dawn PDF

Gad Quotes in Dawn

The Dawn quotes below are all either spoken by Gad or refer to Gad. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Revenge, Terrorism, and War Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

"You want my future?" I asked. "What will you do with it?"

He smiled again, but in a cold, distant manner as one who possesses a power over men. "I'll make it into an outcry," he said, and there was a strange light in his dark eyes. "An outcry first of despair and then of hope. And finally a shout of triumph."

Related Characters: Elisha (speaker), Gad (speaker)
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:

Gad's stories were utterly fascinating. I saw in him a prince of Jewish history, a legendary messenger sent by fate to awaken my imagination, to tell the people whose past was now their religion: Come, come; the future is waiting for you with open arms. From now on you will no longer be humiliated, persecuted, or even pitied. You will not be strangers encamped in an age and a place that are not yours. Come, brothers, come!

Related Characters: Elisha (speaker), Gad
Page Number: 16
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

We don't like to be bearers of death; heretofore we've chosen to be victims rather than executioners. The commandment Thou shalt not kill was given from the summit of one of the mountains here in Palestine, and we were the only ones to obey it. But that's all over; we must be like everybody else. Murder will be not our profession but our duty. In the days and weeks and months to come you will have only one purpose: to kill those who have made us killers. We shall kill in order that once more we may be men[.]

Related Characters: Gad (speaker), Elisha
Page Number: 23
Explanation and Analysis: