Community
The novel shows that community was one of the most important aspect of life for these families. Instead of seeing their community as essentially disconnected, there is a clear connection between families. When the new laws make it illegal for Christians to associate with Jews, that is a scar on the face of their strong sense of community. The narrator describes a thirst for connection and relationship during all stages of the story, proving that to him, the community aspect of life was of critical importance.
The Holocaust as societal damage
The implication of the story is that the narrator deeply loved the Jewish people in his community. He loved Micol and boldly professed it, although he missed his opportunity to be with her by rejecting her earlier in life. Regardless, it is clear that the real reason the narrator has started failing his classes in school is because the emotional trauma of the Holocaust has damaged his psyche by eliminating important members of his community, and by removing joy and innocence.
Mourning and loss
The character doesn't just feel bad for the Holocaust victims and the Jewish community; instead he is deeply disturbed on a personal level. He saw his Jewish neighbors as an essential part of his community, as a part of his very own family, so their sudden murder at the hands of Nazis is unbearable to him. Because the narrator has strong communal relationships to Jewish families, the novel points thematically to empathy, showing that the Holocaust should not be remembered abstractedly, as if the deaths were only numbers; rather, the loss was real, sacred human lives.
