Values

The book highlights how Sara's value system evolves due to her circumstances, as the first person narration, along with her viewing the past from her elderly perspective, allows her to effectively voice her critique. For instance, in Part 1, Chapter 5, she says, “Sure, I was cold—but at least I looked fashionable! Even with everything that was happening… That was the kind of thing I still cared about the most in those days” (40). She underscores how many serious things were happening—many Jewish people were being rounded up, and many died. Yet, even in a world where many Jewish people were being killed, she still cared for something relatively trivial: fashion. The first person voice with a retrospective perspective allows her to critique her own past.

Similarly, the first person voice gives Sara freedom to critique herself. If she was critical of other people, we might think...