“And then my grandfather explained - in his language - that utopias are not for mortals. And that people are like flies, that the stories they are told must be like flypaper. Utopias are gold-covered paper…”
Momik is a child among Holocaust survivors and the awareness of the term ‘Over there’ in their conversations raises his curiosity. The curiosity is partly not to feel like an outsider in their experiences and also to understand the Nazi beast and ‘tame’ it to save his family from it. His grandfather quenches his thirst to know the grave details of the Holocaust much to his disarray. Although he is intelligent beyond his age the information gives a deeper understanding than he warranted for. The assertion alludes to how suffering is part of humanity and perfect worlds are non-existent which impacts Momik’s ideas into adulthood.
“For him, the Holocaust was a laboratory gone mad, accelerating and intensifying human processes a hundredfold...”
In the second part of the novel, Momik is an adult and is pursuing his writing endeavors around ideas of war and violence. However, he encounters a re-imagined Bruno Schulz in his escapades who teaches him about his perspective and language. Bruno is however opposite from Momik, as he looks at violence and war from different lens or rather language. Therefore, the statement refers to how the Polish writer looked at the Holocaust which impacts Momik’s outlook and literary voice.
“Especially the suffering. And our hope is that its measure is the measure of man, and forgiveness.”
In the assertion, Momik’s reiterates his grandfather’s outlook on humanity and the human experiences in general. As a Holocaust survivor his past and present has been impacted by human suffering therefore is ingrained in his system. Suffering is a predominant motif in the narrative from mass ordeal of the Holocaust to personal suffering. Thus, to an extent suffering dictates the lives led by the characters.
