Previous
Pages 9–17
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Once, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Storytelling
Innocence and Ignorance
Antisemitism vs. Human Dignity
Family
Morality, Violence, and Complicity
Summary
Analysis
Felix, shocked, wonders why the visitors would burn books—punishing Mother Minka for being “bossy” isn’t a good enough reason. Then he recalls Mother Minka complaining that the orphanage library was too disorganized. He speculates that the visitors are workers she hired to clean the library; they’re probably burning the most beaten-up books without Mother Minka having told them to.
Because no adult has told him the truth, Felix tries to figure out what is happening based only on what he sees. He’s too good-hearted and innocent to guess that the visitors are burning books out of hatred; instead, he invents a story in which the visitors are trying to be helpful.
Themes
Instead of asking Mother Minka about his parents in front of the visitors, Felix goes to wait in her office. There, he hears a man yelling in a language he doesn’t recognize and then sees one of the visitors, whom he thinks are “librarians.” Felix tells the man that the notebook he's holding isn’t a library book and wonders why Mother Minka would get librarians who don’t speak Polish to tidy the library.
Felix still thinks of the visitors, who are likely Nazi soldiers, as “librarians.” Yet he avoids them in the courtyard and tries to protect his notebook—which represents his love of stories, given to him by his parents—from the soldier he meets. This and Felix’s curiosity about why the “librarians” don’t speak Polish suggest that Felix is too smart to be deluded by his own innocent assumptions for long.
Themes
Mother Minka rushes in and asks Felix why he’s in her office. Then, calling him “Felek,” she says she remembers: she asked him to collect his notebook. Then she orders him upstairs. Wondering why she called him the wrong name, Felix notices she looks worried. Suddenly, Mother Minka says she’ll take Felix upstairs herself, pulls him from the room, and shoves him into the kitchen.
“Felek” is a Polish version of the name “Felix.” Mother Minka may call Felix “Felek” to make him seem more ethnically Polish and hide his Jewish heritage from the intruders; clearly, she is worried about Felix having been alone with one of them, even for a short while.
Themes
Dodie once told Felix that eating mold could “affect your brain.” Felix wonders whether Mother Minka has eaten moldy bread, given her weird behavior. She confesses she thought “those brutes” wouldn’t visit the orphanage. When Felix asks if she’s talking about the “librarians,” she says she means “Nazis.” She doesn’t know how the Nazis discovered she had “Jewish books,” but at least they don’t know Felix is Jewish.
Once again, when confronted with something he doesn’t understand, Felix makes up a story to explain it: to account for Mother Minka’s odd demeanor, he speculates that she may have eaten some consciousness-altering mold. Here, Mother Minka finally reveals to Felix that the visitors are Nazis and that she has been concealing his Jewishness from them.
Themes
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Felix infers that the Nazis, whoever they are, are traveling around burning Jewish books. Worried, he asks whether his parents specified when they’d arrive at the orphanage when they delivered the carrot. Sadly, Mother Minka explains that Sister Elwira put the carrot in Felix’s soup because she pities him. When Felix vehemently insists that his parents sent the carrot, Mother Minka asks him to “be brave.”
Even when Mother Minka reveals some of the truth, Felix can’t necessarily understand or accept it. He’s worried about his parents because he concludes from Mother Minka’s revelations that their books are in danger, and he rejects her explanation of the carrot, which to him represents a tangible hope of being reunited with his parents.
Themes
Mother Minka says they must hope that God, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and the Pope will protect them. Felix, shocked, asks whether Adolf Hitler will protect them too. Mother Minka just shuts her eyes. Felix resolves to save the books in his parents’ shop, go find his parents, and tell that that their books are in danger.
Though Mother Minka refuses to reinforce Felix’s mistaken belief that Hitler is a good protector, she doesn’t explain who Hitler is or what’s going on in Poland. Her failure to explain puts Felix in danger, as he assumes the Nazis are only a threat to books, not his and his parents’ lives—and makes plans accordingly.
Themes
The next morning, in chapel, Dodie asks Felix whether he’s really Jewish. Felix confirms it. Dodie asks, “What’s Jewish?” Felix, worried that Father Ludwik might notice them whispering, just says that “Jewish is like Catholic only different.” When Dodie says he’ll miss Felix, Felix gives Dodie his carrot and promises he’ll bring more carrots and turnips when he visits.
Dodie doesn’t understand what it means to be Jewish, and Felix gives a totally contentless explanation of the difference between Judaism and Catholicism. The boys’ religious ignorance and their friendship despite their different backgrounds imply that religious hatred and antisemitism aren’t natural phenomena; hate is something children have to be taught. When Felix gives Dodie his carrot—which up to this point has represented Felix’s hope of reuniting with his parents—it suggests that Felix is trying to share hope with Dodie, imbuing in Dodie the belief that Felix will come back.
Themes
While the other orphans eat breakfast, Felix sneaks into the dormitory. On Dodie’s bed he leaves the books he brought from home, “the William books by Richmal Crompton,” which his parents used to read to him, as a sign that he’ll come back. He removes a page from his notebook and writes a letter to Mother Minka, thanking her and asking her to give Dodie his share of the soup. He takes his notebook and letters from his parents delivered “before the postal service started to have problems” and prepares to leave.
Richmal Crompton (1890 – 1969) was an English writer whose Just William children’s book series narrates the adventures of an 11-year-old English boy named William. Felix makes sure to leave a sign for Dodie that he’ll return and to thank Mother Minka, which shows both his strong attachment to them and his instinctive goodness. His decision to bring the notebook with him shows his love of and reliance on storytelling, while his belief that his parents stopped sending letters because of problems with the postal service shows his ongoing innocent gullibility.
Themes
Jankiel appears and tells Felix not to go. Felix imagines that Jankiel wants him to stay so that he can keep inventing stories to distract the bullies. Felix assures Jankiel that he can invent stories himself—the story Jankiel was telling the girl orphans earlier about the horse killing his parents made them cry. Felix tears a story from his notebook and tells Jankiel to study it as a model. Jankiel thanks him.
Felix knows that stories are good for more than escapism; they’re also tools for self-protection. Though storytelling is part of Felix’s identity, he isn’t possessive about it: he praises Jankiel’s abilities and shares a page from his notebook with Jankiel. Felix’s generosity again highlights his instinctive goodness.
Themes
When Felix tries to leave, Jankiel tells him he shouldn’t go: there are Nazis everywhere. When Felix says that’s why he’s leaving, Jankiel says that Mother Minka made him promise not to spread news of Nazi actions in the orphanage since it would frighten the orphans. Felix says he already knows the Nazis are burning books. After some internal conflict, Jankiel just tells Felix that he’ll “really regret” leaving. Though uneasy, Felix praises Jankiel’s “vivid imagination,” and then he leaves.
While Mother Minka’s desire not to terrify the orphans is understandable, her secrecy and Jankiel’s put Felix in danger: Felix plans to leave the orphanage without any idea of the situation he’s walking into, having dismissed Jankiel’s ominous yet vague warning as the product of a “vivid imagination.”
Themes
