The Cage

Throughout her text, Sender brings up the idea that inhumane treatment at the hands of the Nazis discounts the humanity that Jews cultivate through community traditions, close family structures, and fundamental wisdom. Riva’s memories begin during the Passover, or Pesach, season, and the feeling of rebirth that it brings recurs throughout the text as a marker in time; Hanukkah, too, reminds Riva and her fellow prisoners at Mittelsteine of the narrative of freedom that brings the Jewish community together in that season (89). Even when treated like “animals,” by connecting to others they can use stories, music, and poetry to assert collective humanity (122). Across the two parts of her text, Sender uses the communities around Riva to hold up her hope and courage when she has none; Riva, then, also holds up those around her. These common bonds, furthered by the sharing of stories that Riva models with Laibele in their apartments in Lodz, help characters to persist.

The most important person in Riva’s life, she realizes as early as Chapter 4, is her mother, who is “the bravest person” she has ever known (18). Though Riva’s mother is taken early in the story, she seems able to look after Riva, even when her body is missing and she herself may be dead.