I Am David

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1963

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

The Power of Human Connection to Heal Traumatized Individuals

David, orphaned and imprisoned in the concentration camp and then living as an escaped prisoner homeless in Europe, finds it difficult to trust those around him. David struggles to make genuine connections, feeling safer isolating himself physically and emotionally from others. One exception is David’s friend and mentor, Johannes, who supports and teaches David in the concentration camp, teaching him the importance of gratitude, self-reliance, and concepts that he will need to understand in the outside world, such as religion and beauty. When David is terrified and alone on his way to Salonica, he draws on the memory of Johannes: “He suddenly felt exactly as he had done when he was small and Johannes was with him. […] [A]fter that it was easy” (14). The strength of Johannes and David’s connection is clear; it outlives Johannes and sustains the young David on his terrifying journey.

The metaphorical and literal distance that David protectively creates around himself is exacerbated when his one friend and confidant, Johannes, dies: “It was not that he liked anyone to touch him. He hated it: it made him feel tense inside. […] [P]erhaps it was only when Johannes died that he became different” (91). The next person David manages to connect with, after many years of withdrawal and solitude, is Maria. David is inspired to save the young girl from the fire, which brings David his first moment of true happiness. David smiles for the first time; “She did not stop smiling, and David realized that he was smiling” (71). Through saving Maria and sharing a moment of intimate joy, David smiles genuinely for the first time in his living memory, illustrating the power of human connection to bring happiness. He continues to feel entirely at ease with Maria; this is unusual for David, who usually feels uneasy around other people: “It was only with Maria that David felt quite at ease” (88).

The realization that he can feel love and yet lives without it is a painful yet important revelation for David. He prays: “I’ve found out that green pastures and still waters are not enough to live by, and nor is freedom. Not when you know there’s love and you haven’t anyone you belong to” (114). Despite the discomfort of this revelation, it is ultimately healing, as David discovers that life with companionship—friendship or family—is ultimately more fulfilling than a life of solitude, despite all the beauty the physical world has to offer. This relationship motivates David on his journey, foreshadowing the relationship he will form with his long-estranged mother after the story's events.

Beauty as Healing and Inspiring

Holm suggests that beauty, in terms of beautiful landscapes and beauty in people, can heal the brokenhearted and inspire the dejected to live with passion and joy. When David sees the beauty of the Italian coast, he is so moved that he weeps openly. He brushes his tears away “angrily” “so that the mist before his eyes should not veil that beauty from him” (20). Previously, David had been surviving instinctively and was motivated primarily by fear. After seeing the beauty of the Italian coast, David is actively motivated to live fully and evade capture; he wants to experience all of the beauty the world has to offer.

Before taking in this view, beauty had only been a metaphorical concept described by Johannes—there was nothing beautiful in the camp. The men “grew so matted and ingrained with dirt that everything about them smelt repulsive and looked loathsome” (85). Even the most beautiful women became “hard of face” (30). The sun that shone in the camp is characterized as cruel; “white-hot and spiteful and scorching” (20).

On the other hand, observing the coastlines and villages below in Italy, Holm notes that the sun shone “with warm golden loveliness” (20). It is personified as warm and benevolent, unlike the spiteful sun in the concentration camp. This symbolizes David’s perception of Italy as a place of kindness, beauty, and comparative safety. He is further moved by the sight of the “villages whose bright colors dazzled gleamingly” and the trees “with so many changing tints of green” (20).

Similarly, the Italian people whom David encounters epitomize the country's beauty. He is shocked to note that

Almost everyone was laughing! It was not the ugly laughter he was used to when they laughed at the prisoners…it sounded pleasant, even beautiful, as if they were all content, and felt friendly towards one another […] and the people were beautiful! (30).

Churches are also a marvel to David; he stands in front of them, moved and inspired. In Bologna, he summons the courage to enter one and admires the “paintings and carved woodwork and coloured glass in the windows” (108). He is stunned by the “beautiful” and “soft obscurity” in the darkened church (108). This experience reaffirms his belief in God.

In Switzerland, when David feels depressed and despondent, he is reinspired by the beauty of the landscape: “A tree in full bloom was among the most beautiful of things, and David’s smile came unbidden” (141). He is inspired to write to Carlo after internally acknowledging his own faults and is determined to continue his journey.

Religious Belief as a Source of Determination, Fortitude, and Self-Reflection

Through David’s experience, Holm suggests that religious belief can bring one fortitude to withstand distress and determination to keep living with purpose and passion. David’s belief in God also contributes to his developing maturity. When David loses his compass, he feels panicked and lost. He has the epiphany that a God would be better than a compass. He prays to God “of the green pastures and the still waters;” “I am David and I choose you as my God” (42). Praying to his God brings David both the resilience and fortitude to withstand his current distress, as well as the determination to continue on his taxing journey; “He felt a sense of relief and added strength just as he had the morning he had determined to go on living” (43).

David seeks to do something for God, having made many requests that God keep him safe from recapture. This decision gives David the requisite determination to enter the fire to save Maria: “God certainly would not want that little girl, so like a flower and so beautiful to look at, to die. Here, then, was something he could do for God in return” (67). This choice, inspired by David’s prediction of what a kind and loving God would want, brings David a relationship that brings him genuine happiness and human connection; “God was clearly pleased with his gift: had not He immediately shown him how to smile?” (72). Holm suggests that choices motivated by a belief in the goodness of God bring happiness and satisfaction.

David’s belief in God also leads him to further self-reflection and maturity. When imprisoned by the farmer, he learns that believing in God doesn’t negate his need to be independent and autonomous. When David realizes that God expects David to save himself, it spurs his determination to escape the stable before the farmer hands him over to authorities: “God […] was very powerful,” but “he expected you to think for yourself and do something in return for his help” (138). David’s moment of weakness in the stable, where he chastises God for not helping him, leads him to reflect on his weakness and feel remorse for his harshness toward Carlo. David realizes that he had been cruel in withholding forgiveness, just as Carlo had been; David writes to Carlo articulating that “I’ll stop hating you, because I only hate those that are evil” (141). Holm suggests in this interaction that following Christian values leads one to be more kind and forgiving.