Themes

The predominant theme in The Accident is death: the protagonist is a messenger from the dead to the living. Part of him has died during the Holocaust, and he currently experiences a living death. He neglects to evade a speeding car because he yearns for death. Wiesel implies that for some Holocaust survivors, death serves as an escape if they can no longer handle the guilt of surviving while their loved ones and friends perished before their eyes. Death becomes the preoccupation of many characters. Gyula, for instance, demands that the narrator refrain from dying until he has painted his portrait. Gyula remarks, "Don't die before I've finished your portrait, do you hear?

Afterwards, I don't give a darn! But not before! Understood?"

All the characters in Wiesel's novel have a story to tell regarding death. Gyula almost drowned in the ocean; he implies that it was an...