Ilana Character Analysis

"Poor boy!" she repeated. […] Ilana disappeared, and Catherine was there instead. I wondered why Catherine had come, but her apparition did not particularly surprise me. […] She liked to speak of love to little boys, and since men going to their death are little boys she liked to speak to them of love. For this reason her presence in the magical room—magical because it transcended the differences […] between the present and the past—was not surprising.

"We say that ours is a holy war," she went on, "that we're struggling against something and for something, against the English and for an independent Palestine. That's what we say. But these are words; as such they serve only to give meaning to our actions. And our actions, seen in their true and primitive light, have the odor and color of blood.”

Though female characters play a relatively small role in the novel, their role is important in that these characters—especially Catherine and, here, Ilana—help Elisha talk through his struggles more than any male characters do. Often, these women raise and grapple with ethical questions more directly than the story’s central characters do. Perhaps because she isn’t directly involved in terrorist operations (she’s the voice of their radio broadcast), Ilana serves as an honest, approachable confidant for Elisha as he faces the reality of the execution he must carry out within hours.

Ilana acknowledges that the Movement has a specific aim which they believe to be “holy”—the establishment of a free Jewish nation. Ilana doesn’t speak for or against this idea directly. However, she draws a distinction between the actions that the Movement fighters carry out and the words with which they interpret those actions. She openly acknowledges what Elisha has been thinking—that, when the Movement’s actions are separated from their justifications, their violent, murderous nature becomes clear. Ilana’s articulation of the ethical dilemma stays with Elisha. Later, when Elisha faces John Dawson, he tells Dawson that he’s trying to hate him in order to give meaning to the act of shooting him.

"Poor boy!" she repeated. […] Ilana disappeared, and Catherine was there instead. I wondered why Catherine had come, but her apparition did not particularly surprise me. […] She liked to speak of love to little boys, and since men going to their death are little boys she liked to speak to them of love. For this reason her presence in the magical room—magical because it transcended the differences […] between the present and the past—was not surprising.

"We say that ours is a holy war," she went on, "that we're struggling against something and for something, against the English and for an independent Palestine. That's what we say. But these are words; as such they serve only to give meaning to our actions. And our actions, seen in their true and primitive light, have the odor and color of blood.”

Though female characters play a relatively small role in the novel, their role is important in that these characters—especially Catherine and, here, Ilana—help Elisha talk through his struggles more than any male characters do. Often, these women raise and grapple with ethical questions more directly than the story’s central characters do. Perhaps because she isn’t directly involved in terrorist operations (she’s the voice of their radio broadcast), Ilana serves as an honest, approachable confidant for Elisha as he faces the reality of the execution he must carry out within hours.

Ilana acknowledges that the Movement has a specific aim which they believe to be “holy”—the establishment of a free Jewish nation. Ilana doesn’t speak for or against this idea directly. However, she draws a distinction between the actions that the Movement fighters carry out and the words with which they interpret those actions. She openly acknowledges what Elisha has been thinking—that, when the Movement’s actions are separated from their justifications, their violent, murderous nature becomes clear. Ilana’s articulation of the ethical dilemma stays with Elisha. Later, when Elisha faces John Dawson, he tells Dawson that he’s trying to hate him in order to give meaning to the act of shooting him.