Summary

Daniel continues looking through the pictures and years pass. The next one is a 1936-37 class picture, his last year of public school. Many of his Jewish classmates are not in this picture because they have already been either forced to leave the public school or have left voluntarily. Daniel remembers that he kicked his teacher after being humiliated in front of the class, and then went to the Jewish school. Daniel outlines other changes in his life and the life of the Jewish community and there is constant talk of leaving the country. Daniel retells a nightmare he had one night after watching a propaganda newsreel: his mother comforted him then, but the nightmare of their lives continues.

Analysis

Matas uses a dream/nightmare sequence from when Daniel was 10 years old to predict/foreshadow events now. Then he had a nightmare, now, when he is...