Summary

Stasha, one half of a set of 12-year-old Polish Jewish twins, begins the novel by recalling her own birth, and how she had followed her sister Pearl out of the womb so they would not be separated. Stasha then narrates her arrival at Auschwitz with Pearl, their mother, and their grandfather (Zayde). Their father is not present because he has been missing for some time. The family plays a game called “the Classification of Living Things” on the train, a form of charades where one person acts out a representation of a “living thing” and the others must identify it (4). The twins' mother occupies herself by drawing a poppy on the wall of the train car. Once on the platform, a guard asks Zayde if he is a spider, referring to Stasha and Pearl hiding behind him, giving the appearance of extra...