Madness In Raphael Wiesel's 'Twilight'

Twilight

Twilight (1988) is perhaps Wiesel’s most complex literary work and it can be viewed as a sort of madness. The reader cannot formulate a clear picture of what happens to each patient after a certain point. This story is presented from a madman’s perspective, Raphael. It absolutely leaves the reader with puzzling questions about the world, oneself, faith, life, and even God. The Mountain Clinic resembles this sheer of madness. The Holocaust is told in flashbacks and soliloquys. The title of the story suggests unclarity of the situation, therefore, madness is a predominate theme throughout the story. Through Raphael’s recollections of the past, an old man reappears from time to time as visionary who looks somewhat like Moishe the Beadle

The madman Cain believes he killed his young brother and he blames God. Cain, in fact, is angry with God more than anyone else and he thinks that he is capable of killing everyone including God. He suffers from dreadful loneliness since he was a child and later at the clinic that tormented his mind and soul. Later, the third madmen who chooses to be silent calls himself Abraham. He believes that he sacrificed his son in the Holocaust as he blames humankind as evil who is “driven to dominate, to humiliate” (Twilight 94). He blames himself for spending much of time teaching his son Talmud instead of how to survive evil such as the Holocaust. He speaks carefully evaluating every word and only in rare occasions he looks up to see the person whom he is addressing (94). Abraham tries to teach Raphael the importance of the word that brings men closer to their God. The fourth madman is known as the Messiah who believes God sent him to his death. What makes the story more interesting is the fifth madman who calls himself God. In such case, one wonders if this God has reached a higher level of madness or whether the author intended to draw parallels to God’s madness in the