Have You Seen Luis Velez?

Raymond has already been concerned about Millie’s withdrawal since Luis’s death. He grows even more wary after the acquittal of Luis’s killer. Chapter 16 begins with Raymond making Millie promise that she will leave her apartment, where she has remained for eight days following the trial. They agree to travel to Battery Park. This was one of the first places Millie saw upon arriving in New York City in 1938, when she was 11 years old. Raymond says she has told him almost nothing about her past. Millie responds: “Today I will talk about it” (253).

Millie describes living in Nazi Germany as a child. Since her mother was Jewish, she and her siblings were considered Jewish. She tells the story of her family’s escape and reveals that she has always suffered from survivor’s guilt since so many neighbors, friends, and extended family members did not get out and were killed by the Nazis. Raymond does not understand why Millie, who was a child, should feel guilty, since she had no part in the decision to leave. Though persecuted in Germany, Millie says she dwells on the other side of privilege as a white New Yorker. She expresses frustration that those who are privileged are blind to their biases.