The Motif of Stories

A motif that weaves through the course of Felix’s tale is that of the power of books and stories. As the son of Jewish booksellers, Felix has been raised to love books and learning. His parents gave him a notebook that he has filled with stories. As a result of this background, Felix makes up stories to understand what he is seeing around him. He uses stories as a way to comfort the dental patients and distract Zelda from the cruelty of the Jews. Felix describes the way stories can bring back memories, make things real, and entertain.

Felix admits his love of books when he sees the Nazis burning books in the orphanage courtyard. He says of the book burning: “Oh, no, I’ve just seen what the men are burning. / That’s terrible. / If Mum and Dad saw this, they...