Genre
Children’s novel
Setting and Context
The book was set during WWII, during the time of Hitler in Germany.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narrative
Tone and Mood
The tone is benevolent and the mood is melancholic
Protagonist and Antagonist
David is the main character.
Major Conflict
The main conflict is that David is only 12 years old, and he finds himself in a concentration camp. David does not know why he is there, and he has no information regarding his family.
Climax
The climax comes when David successfully escapes from the concentration camp and heads to Denmark, where he reunites with his mother despite his hurdles in locating her.
Foreshadowing
David’s escape from the concentration camp foreshadowed his human interaction capabilities.
Understatement
The family that hosts David after saving their daughter, Maria, understated his character. Later, David falls in love with Maria, and the family gets worried, which makes David run away.
Allusions
The story alludes to the brutalities of the Nazi rule that subjected children to misery.
Imagery
The description of the concentration camp paints an image of suffering and slavery. The conditions people live in the camps are compromising, but they do not have an option. Therefore, the concentration camp's imagery depicts sight that helps readers to see the brutality of the Nazi rule.
Paradox
The main irony is that the camp's commandant, who frees David and her mother from the concentration camp, is humane. Unlike other commandants, this specific guard is satirically human and cares about the well-being of the people who live in the camps.
Parallelism
David's reunion with his mother paralleled his earlier thinking and opinion about life when he was in the concentration camp.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
The Nazi rule is personified as inhumane.
