Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Quotations

"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."
- Elsa, Maria's mother. Pg. 121

 This is my favourite quote in this book, since it describes David in the most mysterious ways that is the perspective and first thing that comes to mind of the people who meet him. His eyes.

“He doesn’t look like the others and always moves off when you look at him. He’s got very strange-looking eyes...”

“You can see he isn’t an ordinary little tramp. Those eyes... can’t you see his eyes?’
  
Worn out and weary, they hold many visions, many secrets of David that are not mentioned in the book. His past life, unknown and kept to himself, not shared with anybody. David is used to being alone and perhaps if he tells somebody close a part of his past life; they will know where he came from and get separated by them.

One other advantage of this quote is that I can relate to David in any way such as writing a poem, journal entry...etc. He has seen too much a child should not have to live through. The torture, pain and loss of his life that is too much for a child to handle, even adult! But not David, he has witnessed as much as an old man. No one knows what memories lie behind those eyes.

                Sorrow has its life just like people. Sorrow is born and lives and dies. And when it is dead and gone, someone’s left behind to remember it. Exactly like people.”

-          Sophie Bang. Pg. 155

Sometimes memories and guilt follow you. And you have to learn how to let it go, forget about the past and focus on the future. Everything you do in the past affects the future, and for all we know David has the most difficult path to follow. All the time, wherever he goes, sorrow clings on and he has an attitude that makes people wonder. Guilt and loss fade, while sorrow and pain stay, deep inside the heart. When people make first impressions of this strange boy, why he doesn’t smile, his sorrowful appearance and bother him with it, they don’t know what he went through in his life.
When Johannes, his only mentor, friend, role model to look up to is gone, David decides not to develop a bond between anyone. The pain when he sees families together and the fact that he doesn’t have one, sice being alone is his only choice. I have felt loss and pain before, everybody has at least in one point of their life. But nobody can compare their sorrow that was once in a life time to David’s, that is always there wherever he goes.


"Joy passed, but happiness never completely disappeared: a touch of it would always remain to remind one it had been there. It was happiness that made one smile, then."

- Johannes. Pg. 91
      “David was full of happiness and triumph, clinging onto the prize that he cheated death of.”
For the first time after Johannes had died, David actually felt joy in his heart for saving Maria from the fire; it was his brave and determined attitude that helped him survive it. He was never able to smile, as there hadn’t been anything so far in his life to smile about. It was a wonder to David for what had made him smile, joy perhaps? But no, it was happiness. David remembered even the tiniest moments of joy he had, after all, he had none in the concentration camp. Even if it included earning a couple of lire, getting free bread or being able to bathe. All of this joy passed for him; he would soon forget about it, but the happiness that brought along that joy never left his heart.
People nowadays own everything and think of it all as vital necessities but all David had was a little bundle that he needed in order to survive. So every moment that something or someone new came along that were nice to him, he would never forget the happiness of being treated well for once in his life. Unlike people today who regard what David witnessed just a little moment of joy that passed quickly and will be forgotten. But even we, people of today, have experienced a period of time in surprise and excitement. Even though that has faded away, we will always feel an ounce of the happiness that made us the person we are today.

“What the boy doesn’t know, he won’t miss.”


-Johannes. Pg. 99
What Johannes is saying here is that, if David is used to his horrible and poor life in the concentration camp, and doesn’t know any better, why hear about the luxurious life of others outside the camp? All he knows is this one life, one feeling, and if someone told him of other people’s lives, he would long for it, wonder and worry why he does not live that happily. It wouldn’t be fair to David and he would yearn for this life, more and more every day, and become even more miserable than he already is. This way, if he doesn’t know about the treasures of the good life and only has this one life in front of him, David wouldn’t know about it and therefore not miss it.
We human beings are filled with jealousy and desire for something better than we already have, when we see it or hear about it. We forget about our own life and concentrate about other peoples' lives that are better and more satisfying to us. In this case, I wouldn’t blame David if he had longed for the good life because his life is torture in that concentration camp. But when you don’t have a clue about something better than you already have, you won’t miss it unlike people who already heard about it. After all, who doesn’t want something better when they hear or see it?

2 comments:

  1. All the quotations you have chosen represent deeply important aspects of David and his story. Your analysis is thorough, thoughtful, and quite mature. You do understand the characteristics of human nature that are explored in this book. I especially like the quotation you chose about sorrow and your response to it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. All the quotations you have chosen represent deeply important aspects of David and his story. Your analysis is thorough, thoughtful, and quite mature. You do understand the characteristics of human nature that are explored in this book. I especially like the quotation you chose about sorrow and your response to it.

    ReplyDelete