The Oath (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Elie Wiesel
- First Published: 1973
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Parable
- Time of Work: The early twentieth century to the early 1970’s
- Setting: Kolvillàg, a village in central Europe
- Genres: Long fiction, Parable
- Subjects: Twentieth century, Europe or Europeans, Villages, Jews or Jewish life, Massacres
- Locales: Europe
Characters Discussed
Azriel (AZH-reel), the only survivor of the Kolvillàg pogrom. Bound by an oath not to reveal how he survived or how the rest of his village was massacred in the pogrom, he wanders from city to city in central Europe as a Jewish Na-venadvik. Others see him as a saint or a madman, a bringer of deep understanding and insight to people of whatever class or age he encounters. Even as he sees all in the lives of others, no one knows the despair of the secret he bears until he counters that hopelessness by telling his story to a suicidal young man. By...
[The entire page is 808 words long]
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