When the Angels Left the Old Country

Throughout the novel, the characters of Little Ash and Uriel undergo the same migration that all humans going to America have experienced. Starting in the little town of Shtetl, they make their way across the ocean to New York City and experience what it is like to be a Jewish immigrant fighting to build a new life. While they do not see themselves as immigrants in the way that Rose or Grandmother Rivke might, their experiences of loneliness and split identity nonetheless mirror those of the people around them. Many of these feelings arise specifically on the journey over the Atlantic, for the narrative states that the two are “far from alone in being unsettled by the voyage from Europe to America, but, being the sheltered creatures that they were, they were completely unaware that their troubles were perfectly ordinary” (153). The angel and the demon rarely leave their corner of Shtetl and have never faced the challenges they must confront as they travel overseas to save Essie. Their emotional responses to the conflicts that arise between them and the daunting tasks that lie ahead feel unique to them, but as the narrative acknowledges, their individual experiences are part of a greater, more universal immigrant experience.