The Imagery of Conversations
Tatiana De Rosnay writes, “She was afraid. She remembered the recent, hushed conversations she had overheard, late at night, when her parents thought she was asleep. She had crept up to the living room door and she had listened and watched from a little crack through the panel. Her father's nervous voice. Her mother's anxious face. They spoke their native tongue, which the girl understood, although she was not as fluent as them. Her father had whispered that times ahead would be difficult. That they would have to be brave and very careful. He pronounced strange, unknown words: "camps," "roundup, a big roundup," "early morning arrests," and the girl wondered what all of it meant.” The conversations mirror the couples’ nervousness which designates that their household may be shaken by the continuing captures. Had they not been latent fatalities, they would not be unperturbed and tranquil. Although the child is unaware, she detects that her household may be undesirably obstructed by the unfavorable captures. Her snooping shapes the resolve which she makes when the police appear at their apartment.
The Imagery of “Secret Place”
Tatiana De Rosnay describes, “ They had a flashlight in there and some cushions and toys and books, even a flask of water that Maman would fill up every day. Her brother couldn't read yet, so the girl would read Un Bon Petit Diable out loud to him. He loved the tale of the orphan Charles and the terrifying Madame Mac'miche and how Charles got back at her for all her cruelty. She would read it to him over and over again…She closed the door on the little white face, turned the key in the lock. Then she slipped the key into her pocket. The lock was hidden by a pivoting device shaped like a light switch. It was impossible to see the outline of the cupboard in the paneling of the wall.” The spot is seamlessly obscured; hence, it would be problematic for the police to recognize that the boy is hiding there. It’s a comfy locality for children to submerge in their Fantasy world where adults would not pry. The boy’s insistence on hiding in there is a verification that he is assured of the welfare which the hideout guarantees.
