The Irony of “The Orphaned and the Unattached”
Philips writes, “Mr Bellow took a special interest in these young people- the orphaned and the unattached, as he called them- both boys and girls who were too old to be placed with families yet too young to be treated as adults. He was forever reminding his staff volunteers that, for these people in particular, the world must seem a very different place. We must endeavour to treat them as though they were our own lost children. He could save his words, for most had already been quietly recruited by armed emissaries from Palestine who regularly infiltrated the camp. The majority of the ‘ orphaned and unattached’ were now Hagannah service trainees, secretly preparing themselves for a life of military service in the underground army that they would join once they reached Palestine.” Mr Bellow is gullible because he is convinced that the young people whom he strives to protect and love are innocent and vulnerable. The irony of these young people demonstrates the loopholes in camps which permit radicals to infiltrate. Notwithstanding their age, the refugees have been programmed to embrace Hagannah, so it would be difficult for Mr Bellow to singlehandedly alter their ideologies.
“I am Comfortable being confined”
Eva asserts “I walk close to the barbed-wire fence and peer at the world beyond the camp. I touch the fence. I know where I am. I am suddenly appalled to realize that I am comfortable being confined. To remove the sire seems unthinkable. I know that I am free to trespass on the other side, to saunter out through the gate and bolt in any direction I choose. But looking at life through this fence suits me better. And then I realize that I cannot go back.” Ordinarily, Eva would have hankered for the outside world beyond the fences which are emblematic of restrictive confinement. Her contentment with being confined, psychoanalytically, demonstrates that she has repressed the agony of being confined to the degree that she no longer feels it. The Repression reduces her motivation to attempt to escape because she considers it an aspect of her life that she should endure.
