Chapter 7

It must have been hard for the refugees to trust the Russian soldiers. The only people of authority they had contact with in the past 6 and half years were out to get them. It must have also been hard being referred to as refugees. They had been labeled negatively, Jew, prisoner, and worse, and now they were being called refugee. It must have been trying to find a personal identity again. It was nice to learn that the Blumenthals found a home to stay home stocked with food, but at the same time, it was not their home, and they still did not know what was coming next. It is hard to comprehend getting used to that feeling like the Blumenthals had. 

For the first time in the story, Marions personal feelings are being shared in more depth. We learn that she is having nightmares from spending time the Russian hospitals to get her leg cared for, and all the amputees frightened her. I found it odd that all that she had been through and seen, this is what bothered her a lot. I think maybe it is because everything else she was experiencing was larger than her and totally out of her control. But seeing the amputees, was something that could happen to her personally and this is what may have frightened her. 

The family chose to sleep next to each other in one room even though they have the option of separating. This shows how much they have come to appreciate the presence of each other after being forced to be split up. Like Marion says they were as close as her four perfect pebbles.

It was sad how these people had become so efficient at building graves. That says a lot about what was happening I think. 

My guess from the pictures at the end of the last chapter were proved correct in this chapter about Walter dying. I would like to think that Walter stayed strong through the worst of it to keep his family safe, and when he knew the war was over and his family would be OK, he let go.

Some difficult words in this chapter were: conquered, foraged, crude, penicillin, maimed, amputated, telescope graves, abated, quarantine, shroud