Plot

Plot

Miriam Katin's We Are On Our Own is a story of life and death during the Nazi occupation of Hungry. Its a journey of a mother's courage in the face of a very real nightmare. In the memoir, Latin recalls her mother, Esther Levy, who takes care of two-yer-old Miriam in Nazi-infested Budapest while Miriam's father is away fighting in the war. Andrew Arnold also argues that the plot "explores the precarious nature of religious faith, which for some can be stretched too thin for suspension." This may become more evident to the reader when looking at particular symbols used in the text, and the seemingly worsening series of events.

The tale begins with Esther and her best friend sharing coffee in na urbane and middle class environment. They're discussing how the death traps of the Nazi's are setting in, demanding they hand in their dog - which then was followed by commanding all the jews leave their possessions nd report to the ghetto. Fearful about the rumours of round-ups in which no one returns - Esther purchases fake identity papers as a servant girl with n illegitimate daughter. She burns all of her personal identifies, including her photographs and family bible, before fleeing the city. Miriam calls out that her mother has burnt God, but Esther replies that He is with them, and will protect them on their journey.

Once out of the city, Esther finds a couple willing to take her in and protect her and her daughter. Trouble finds its way in when a local Nazi Kommandant becomes curious and suspects that she is a runaway Jew. But instead of turning her in, he forces her to become his mistress. This situation soon escalates when advancing Russian troops appear at the door. This sends Esther and her draughting fleeing into a snowstorm.


Andrew Arnold states that this is the boss thematic climax. Some may see that the coming down of snow and shelter is protection from the hand of God, but then we see the dog shot by the soldiers and Miriam comes to a different conclusion (Arnold. A, 2006). Again, she finds a place to stay but is forced to give up her wedding ring as payment, another religious symbol for faithfulness and obedience.

Between these black and white scenes of horror, we see flashes of Miriam's life, in full colour, decides later. Her and her husband struggle with the decision to immerse him in Hebrew school "with our own kind", as her husband says, and she replies "You mean separate. Again." These flashes into the future show the lasting, idling effects on Mariam, although, we find out later, she hardly remembers any of it. Living a secular, nonreligious life seems to be her reaction to the brutality she and her mother experienced.


Spring of 1945.
Miriam finds comfort with an old acquaintance, David, at a refugees aid centre in Borosvar. Life becomes more enjoyable again for Esther and her daughter - they begin to laugh and share quality time together. David begins to think that Esther is his new start at a wife and family. It isn't long before Esther senses these feelings, but remains devoted to her unfound husband.

Finally, near the end of the book, we see Miriam's father. Having survived the war, he returns to Budapest in search of his family, only to find them long gone! Here we see a parallel journey as Miriam's father traces their footsteps to Esther's previous accommodations, until finally he runs into David, who points him towards his final destination.

Upon being reunited with each other, Esther is hugely relieved, but all Miriam can speak about is her dog: "and Rexy did not come back". She doesn't recognize her father, instead goes to play with the toys, a stuffed dog and a toy soldier. Recalling the incident in the snowstorm, she hides the stuffed dog and violently attack the toy soldier. The last thing she says is "and what if mommy burned that god after all?", potentially implying that their relationship with God is now non-existent.



Heres a little more on Andrew's Article; he relates this memoir to many other completed by Katin.
http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1199859,00.html