Quotations

Quotation One: All Suffering Has An End

“All suffering has an end, David, if only you wait long enough. Try to remember that. Sorrow has its life just like people. Sorrow is born and lives and dies. And when it’s dead and gone, someone’s left behind to remember it. Exactly like people.”- Sophie Bang, pp. 155.

I chose this quote because I think that it represents the events in David’s long journey to freedom. All of his suffering in the camp-watching people being killed, living in harsh conditions, etc., comes to an end when he finally finds his mother in Copenhagen. Throughout the novel, David’s sorrow is born, has its life, and dies, but he always remembers all of his old friends and things that happened long ago. At the beginning, he is in the camp, and is quite upset, always thinking about his dead friend Johannes. Some of his sorrow dies when the man tells him to escape, however he is still cautious about his actions. He always is careful while on the ferry and while travelling along the coast. When he finds a temporary home in Maria’s house, he is happy, joyful, and yet still cautious. At times, when he is with Maria, he forgets about his sorrow. Then he hears her parents talking about him, and realizes that he has to leave his comforts and Maria behind. His sorrow returns.  David then travels north, and meets Sophie Bang, who makes him a bit happier and tells him about his mother. David is filled with hope now that he has a goal to meet: finding his mother.

This quote is can be easily related to our daily lives. Sometimes we make mistakes and leave the wrong impression on someone or something. Sometimes we say things we don’t mean to say. Sometimes we mess up. Then we fix our problems, and maybe a week later, everything is normal again.  We have our ups and downs, but usually everything turns out alright. It also relates to feelings and memories. One week we may feel sad, because we didn’t do well on a test or had a fight with a sibling. The next day, we may suddenly feel good again, because the winds have blown in our favour, and there is something new to think about.

Quotation Two: David's Eyes

“Yes…And his eyes frighten me too. They’re the eyes of an old man, an old man who’s seen so much in life that he no longer cares to go on living. They’re not even desperate…just quiet and expectant, and very, very lonely, as if he were quite alone of his own free choice. Giovanni, a child’s eyes don’t look like that! There’s something wrong there. And his smile- if it weren’t so incredible, I’d be tempted to say he look as if he’d never smiled before he set eyes on Maria. He never smiles at the rest of us: he just looks at us politely and with dead earnestness, and when he smiles at Maria, it’s…”- Maria’s mother, Elsa, pp. 121 

I love this quotation: if you read between the lines, it describes David amazingly well, his thoughts, his likes, and feelings. David has seen so much in his life, and suffered and seen losses greater than any normal child should have to. He has seen what happens to people if they are greedy, selfish, or unkind. David is alone in life, and does not trust anyone, because he has been taught by Johannes that nothing good comes from trusting strangers. He is a quiet boy, caring and serious. He is no longer desperate; he understands that one should not be greedy, so he has trained himself to live on next to nothing. As for David's smile, it is truly what David would define as beautiful. He did not know how to smile when he was in the camp; this was not exactly a valued skill there. But I love the way he smiles at Maria: to me this represents friendship and hope. Maria was the only person other than the late Johannes that David actually started to trust-everyone else in her family he was extremely careful with what he said to them. As I have said time and time again, David has the mind of a man and the body of a boy.