David's relationship with God grows through the novel from being non-existent to being one of the most vital relationship in his life. Describe each stage of this relationship in detail. How does David find God? How does he chose a God? What promises does he make to God, and what triumphs does he attribute to God? Does God succeed, to David, in helping him?
This is only a short-answer space but I can include a general comment. David's entire journey, both physical and mental/emotional/spiritual/psychological, is triggered and motivated by faith - in fact, by several different sorts of faith. There is, for David, the essential faith that his life and identity are worth living, preserving, and enacting. There is his faith, despite his suspicions, that the camp commandant is giving him correct advice when he says to go to Denmark. There is the fundamental faith that, along the way, he will find help and support, food and transportation and money. There is the faith that there is a better life ahead, that there is freedom ahead, and later in the narrative that his mother will be waiting for him. Finally, there is religious faith, which is presented in a way that may seem to contemporary readers surprisingly broad minded when it is considered that the work was first written and published in the early 1960's (a period not known for its spiritual open-mindedness - that came later in the 60's). Yes, much of David's experience of religion and God unfolds within a context of Christianity, but the priest he encounters in Chapter 6 makes a point that, in many ways, could be perceived as being a quite modern perspective - the idea that no matter what god a person prays to, all the gods are essentially the same God.
