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Chapter 3
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
The flat is so crowded that Yanek often sleeps on his hall floor. One night, he hears Oskar sneaking out after curfew, and Yanek asks to go with him. Yanek’s father relents; they sneak out through back alleys, hiding themselves from the Nazi soldiers in the streets. Eventually, they make it to Yanek’s uncle Abraham’s bakery, which the Nazis have allowed him to keep open to bake bread for the soldiers.
Yanek continues his coming-of-age journey by taking on more responsibility. Even though it is dangerous (and potentially life-threatening) to go out after curfew, Yanek is insistent on accompanying his father to help him with whatever he is doing.
Themes
Once inside the bakery, Yanek is overwhelmed by the “beautiful smell of bread,” and his stomach growls in hunger. Abraham and Yanek’s aunt Fela greet Yanek and Oskar. They explain that they’re baking bread in one oven and burning wet wood to cover the smell in the other. Yanek and his father feed the fires so that Abraham and Fela can bake the dough. When they are finished baking, they give Yanek and Oskar three sacks of bread: two to sell and one to have. Yanek and his father then leave quickly before it’s light, and Yanek thinks that the fresh bread in the morning will help him forget all of his troubles.
Here, Gratz begins to connect bread to Yanek’s wellbeing, a symbol that will recur throughout the novel. At this moment, the bread is still warm and still has the ability to make Yanek forget the anxiety surrounding the Nazi occupation. Gratz also illustrates how the connection and solidarity between Yanek and the rest of his family is imperative for his survival and security.
Themes
