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David ben Moshe
The beggar is a mysterious figure whom Elisha first met when he was 12 years old. The shabbily dressed, gaunt beggar had an otherworldly look in his eyes. The mysterious beggar taught young Elisha how to distinguish between night and day by peering into a window and looking for the reflection of a face. The ghost of the beggar also appears in the room the night before Elisha executes Dawson, but he declines to pass judgment on Elisha’s actions. From studying Hassidic literature, Elisha knows that a beggar could be either the prophet Elijah or the Angel of Death in disguise. Throughout the story, Elisha thinks the beggar represents both of these figures at different points.
The Beggar Quotes in Dawn
The Dawn quotes below are all either spoken by The Beggar or refer to The Beggar. 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:
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Chapter 1 Quotes
"Listen," he said, digging his fingers into my arm. "I'm going to teach you the art of distinguishing between day and night. Always look at a window, and failing that look into the eyes of a man. If you see a face, any face, then you can be sure that night has succeeded day. For, believe me, night has a face." […]
Every evening since then I had made a point of standing near a window to witness the arrival of night. And every evening I saw a face outside. It was not always the same face […] I knew nothing about them except that they were dead.
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The Beggar Character Timeline in Dawn
The timeline below shows where the character The Beggar appears in Dawn. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
It’s just before nightfall. This time of the evening always makes Elisha think of a beggar he met in the synagogue long ago, when Elisha was 12. The war was just...
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Frightened by the beggar, Elisha asked him if he was hungry or needed anything else, but the beggar said...
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As they stopped in front of Elisha’s house, the beggar told Elisha that he would teach him how to distinguish between day and night. He...
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...he sees a face outside the window. It’s not always the same face—sometimes it’s the beggar’s, and later, it’s his father’s. Sometimes Elisha sees strangers. All he knows is that these...
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Chapter 3
...man’s gentle voice filled Elisha with emotion, and his masked face reminded Elisha of the beggar. Elisha felt part of “a Messianic world” where every action has meaning.
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Chapter 5
...knows well or simply people whose paths he’s crossed at some point. His parents, the beggar, and the grizzled master are there; so are the English soldiers he helped ambush, and...
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...gives no answer; when Elisha asks the grizzled master, the same thing happens. Finally, the beggar says that it’s “a night of many faces.” He gently squeezes Elisha’s arm and tells...
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...him, but the truth is that Elisha’s “silence is [his] judge.” Then Elisha sees the beggar and thinks that he isn’t the Angel of Death after all, but the prophet Elijah....
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...he kills him—to avoid this would be cowardly. Gad looks at him with pride. The beggar asks if Elisha wants company. Elisha declines, though he knows the crowd of ghosts must...
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Chapter 6
...door silently opens and the dead enter, filling the narrow space with their heat. The beggar tells Elisha, “day is at hand.” The little boy says uneasily that this is the...
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