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Chapter 19
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Prisoner B-3087, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Determination and Luck
Anti-Semitism and Cruelty vs. Humanity
Connection vs. Isolation
Coming of Age, Trauma, and Remembrance
Identity vs. Anonymity
Summary
Analysis
One morning, Yanek notices the man in the bunk next to him is dead. Another prisoner around Yanek’s age suggests that they go through his pockets for bread; they find a lice-ridden piece and share it. The boy introduces himself as Fred, and Yanek tells him his own name. Yanek realizes that he hadn’t spoken his name to anyone for as long as he can remember, and the two shake hands. Yanek thinks that it feels good to make a connection.
Though Yanek has been anonymous for a long time following Moshe’s death, Fred’s friendship affords him the opportunity to feel like a human being again. Gratz illustrates here how connecting with someone and maintaining one’s identity are related to one another, as each adds to Yanek’s emotional wellbeing and allows him to regain a sense of meaning in life.
Themes
Yanek and Fred are assigned to the same work detail, and Fred starts to ask Yanek questions about himself. Yanek remembers Moshe’s warning, but he also recognizes how nice it had been to talk with Isaac and Thomas. Yanek tells Fred a little about himself, and they discover that they grew up not too far from each other. They also start to talk about what they’ll do when they get out of the camps—like buy fresh bread and other food. They laugh together as their stomachs rumble.
Fred continues to give Yanek the opportunity to not only form a meaningful and supportive relationship in a place where that rarely exists, but also to give him a part of his own identity back as they speak about their past lives. Relating this to Yanek’s friendship with Isaac and Thomas reminds readers that Yanek has been able to find those meaningful relationships at other times as well—proving their benefit again and again.
Themes
Soon, Fred and Yanek are inseparable, and Yanek thinks how good it is to have a friend. But one day he notices that Fred has very little energy and doesn’t want to eat. He gives his bread to Yanek, but Yanek saves it for him to eat the next day. The next day, Fred is very sick, but he can’t go to the camp clinic—people never came back. The day after, Fred can’t get out of bed. The kapo comes in and tells Fred to get up, dragging him to roll call. The kapos haul him in front of the assembly yard, at the gallows. He’s so weak he can’t even stand. Yanek starts to cry as he watches the Nazis hang Fred. That night, Yanek says a prayer for Fred as he eats the bread and makes another vow to never forget his friend.
Of course, building a meaningful relationship with another person can come at a cost, as it did when Yanek lost Moshe. Fred’s death is just another dimension of the Nazis’ cruelty, as they kill him simply for being sick. Just as with the boy who was unjustly hanged at Trzebinia, Yanek feels the imperative to remember Fred because he could not survive. Additionally, bread recurs as a symbol of wellbeing. Even though Fred could not survive, he is able to give Yanek some support—both tangibly in the bread’s physical sustenance, and in the emotional support of his friendship.
Themes
