Critical Lens Essay On Dawn

“Most of our mistakes, the big ones at least, are the result of allowing emotion to overrule logic. We knew the right choice but didn't obey.” - Unknown speaker. This quote is an overview of what is to come soon on in this essay, as we knew what the right decision was, but we appealed to emotion and overruled our logic. During the novels Dawn by Elie Wiesel, Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang, and The Hairdresser of Harare by Tendai Huchu, we will see these themes take action and these characters react in a time of change and confusion. The novel Dawn takes place after World War II and tells the story of the Israeli resistance fighters against the English rule. Red Scarf Girl tells the story of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and everything that

happened during it. The Hairdresser of Harare tells the story of a man and a woman who meet at a hair salon only for eventually discovering that their feelings were not mutual. Special circumstances and emotions can cause us to make irrational decisions and they tend to be hate in the moment, a helpless type of manipulation, and pure shock.
In the novel Dawn by Elie Wiesel we see the hate inside of the characters caused them to do things they believed were morally wrong, even though this wasn't their true character.

As the novel comes to a close, we see Elisha murder John Dawson in the name of the Resistance. Elisha was assigned to murder John Dawson before the dawn of the morning and there were in a basement together for several hours. As dawn comes near, Elisha kills John Dawson and he is very stressed about what he has just done. He struggles to see who he really is, and when he walks back upstairs, he is vividly a changed man mentally. This confusion is shown in the following

passage:
“John Dawson has made me a murderer, I said to myself. He has made me the murderer of John Dawson. He deserves my hate. Were it not for him, I might still be a murderer, but I wouldn’t be the murderer of John Dawson.”
This passage demonstrates that Elisha seems to be looking for someone to put the blame on, but he doesn't know who to as he is confused. This also shows that he feels bad as perhaps he thought John Dawson was a good man, as he seems to be ashamed of being the murderer of John Dawson. We can infer that he is going to try to hate John Dawson because his death made Elisha a murderer as he killed Dawson. This applies in numerous amounts of murder because not every murder is done because of hate of something. Many murders are done with hate, and these tend to be the worse and a lot more melancholy, which is one of the more horrifying aspects of human life.
In the novel Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang we see how manipulation from a single man can form an ideology of an entire generation into doing what they believe is right, but is really wrong. In this novel, which takes place in China, Chairman Mao, the leader of the Chinese communist party has ordered that all of the four olds must be destroyed. The four olds were Old customs, culture, habits, and ideas. He wanted these all destroyed in order to make the Communist State of his liking. As all the young people viewed him as a deity because they are allowed to know of nothing else, he ordered them to beset all of authority and all in a position of power feared for their lives. Everyone whose job embodied “Western” ideas were taken out of power and killed, as was a lot of people who were taken out of power. Millions died during the cultural revolution. In the following passage Ji-Li, the main character of the novel is trying to inform her grandmother who does not agree with Chairman Mao that he is right about what needs to happen in China:
“But Grandma, we have to get rid of those old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old
habits. Chairman Mao said they’re holding us back, I informed her.”
This passage demonstrates that Ji-Li’s grandmother is having a difficult time adjusting to what's going on around as all the old ways of life are being tarnished.

It can also be inferred that Ji-Li is being swayed into the words, although her family does not agree. This is understandable, though, because he is all she knows as a leader and it naturally makes sense for her to really consider what is going on and accept it. She seems to want to agree with him, but what exactly is holding the Chinese back? Has the Chairman given a valid reason for the revolution, bringing in the fact that many people died from this revolution that accomplished nothing. Correspondingly, as we see Ji-Li speak of about why the four olds should be rid of, we now see one of the early effects of it in the following passage. Days after Ji-Li has that conversation with her grandmother, all of the four olds signs were being taken down and all of the shops had been renamed. Her parents do not agree with what is happening either as we find out, their occupations do not align with what is wanted in China and what is needed to be taken out. “The newspapers and the radio said so. I knew the movement was vital to our country’s future, and I did not understand how Mom and Dad could not be interested in it. It was almost unbelievable. Within a couple of days almost all the four olds shop signs had been removed. The stores we had talked about had all been renamed.” The Cultural Revolution in China lasted from

1966 until the death of Chairman Mao in 1975. Millions of lives were impacted and the ramifications of what happened are still felt today in China. This revolution set their country back so many years of the climb up has been difficult. This was an example of a Communist society that didn't live up to it's billing, but like all communist societies and countries they just became military dictatorships. They all have truly manifested Karl Marx’s ideas of socialism, which would stem from Communism which was created in 1948. But anyways, the brainwashing of the teenagers and young adults caused China to go into Civil distress and this generation is known as the lost generation. 1960s through 1970s, China is a perfect example of what can happen if you are controlled by a single man, especially if he doesn't know what he's doing. These young people knew what the u were doing was wrong, but it can be assumed most of them didn't take the time to really make sense of it logically.
In the novel Hairdresser of Harare by Tendai Huchu we see how complete shock can cause major consequences within someone's life. This type of shock can cause us to make actions we will eventually regret in the future when the consequences eventually come. At this point in the novel Vimbai has discovered some startling news about her roommate whom she loved Dumi. After Dumi turns down an opportunity of sex from her, she has a large amount of mixed emotions inside her at this point. She goes into his bedroom and goes through his very confidential journal. After she does this there is a feeling of disbelief inside of her as she discovered he is gay. It got even worse for her as she found out he was in a relationship with Minister M__, whom she looked up too. After doing this she tells the minister's wife and the conversation comes to a close, here is what the wife of Minister M__says: “I understand you perfectly. I swear I will not tell anyone what I know.”
“That’s the right thing to do. This boy, Dumisani, where is he now?”
“I don’t know, he ran away from me after I confronted him.”
“Leave this with me. I will take care of everything. You go back to your life, Vimbai. Find yourself a good man, and this time, make sure you know what you are getting yourself into.”
This passage makes the reader infer that something is suspicious is rising because of how suspicious their conversation seems to be. When the wife says she will take care of everything that's very suspicious as that couldn't be possibly any good. I say this because she was cheated on by her husband with a man and this is bad because cheating is wrong, but especially since homosexual men are looking as less than human in Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe, homosexual men have been viewed with an extreme out of discretion and although the rest of the world being more accepting of the LGBTQ community, this hasn't been the case in Zimbabwe. Although Vimbai told the Minister's wife of what happened, she felt terrible after after because of what eventually happened. Just like us humans do, we have made so many decisions based on shock and first instinct we fail to think about the consequences before and that is a major problem on Earth. We must think about what is really right and if the consequences are worth the question we are asking our considering telling the world.
Hate in the moment, helpless manipulation, and pure shock cause us to make irrational decisions, especially during times of great emotion and circumstance. In novel Dawn we see how we make decisions against our consciousness because of hate just as Elisha killed John Dawson. In Red Scarf Girl the Chinese population was manipulated into doing something they thought was right, but was actually wrong. In the Hairdresser of Harare Vimbai made a decision against her consciousness because of the pure shock she felt with the discovery of Dumi being gay. As humans, life is all about living in the moment, and the decision we make in half a second can decide the path of our entire life; in conclusion, we must have to not make decisions, not with just how we feel in the moment, but how it can impact us for the rest of our lives.