The Postcard

The author utilizes the postcard as a symbol for memory. At the outset of the narrative, Lélia is disquieted by the anonymous note that arrives at her house, with the names of her ancestors who were killed during the Holocaust. As Anne struggles to reconcile her personal experiences with her family’s past, she begins to investigate the postcard and, later, the life of her grandmother, Myriam. While Myriam initially wrote the names to ensure that she did not forget her family, the note serves to preserve their memory in the lives of the next generation. Ephraïm, Emma, Jacques, Noémie, and Myriam continue to live through memory, their lives are not discarded with their deaths.

The Dead Bird

In Book I, Chapter 25, Berest utilizes the dead bird that Myriam finds on the road, as a symbol for evil. When Myriam is biking...