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When Jakob finally had a chance to visit his mother, he found out when he arrived that all the Jews in that town were taken and marched away by the Germans the night before they arrived.
He is no longer part of the loving Polish-Jewish family, for they are now all gone. He was now lost and alone as he has lost almost everything that is dear to him.
Losing his family, though tragic, was probably crucial in Jakob surviving, and without them, he could better disguise himself. -
Moishe insists on going to Chelm to giving himself up, but Jakob refuses just die so easily. Although they tried,they still ended up separating.
This makes Jakob even more alone as he now he truly has no one and has to run and hide all by himself, but also independent as he knows what he wants.
To ensure his survival, he persisted to not give himself up and hide, and that meant that he would have to go separate ways from his uncle. To live, he had to give up his uncle. -
Jakob started shouting, “Catch that dirty Jew!” along with the other kids, chasing a Jew.
The guilt of him playing football with the Jew’s shoe led him to see his family and himself suffer the fate of the Jew. It reminded him of who he was and if what he’s doing right now is right.
To live among a community that Jewish was prohibited, he had to give up his inner self, at least on the outside, to survive and not get discovered. However, he also was reminded of who he was through his own actions. -
A German had come in for a quick meal. It was then he saw the hunger and fatigue of the man that Jakob realized that he had lost the hatred against the Germans.
Jakob is behaving and feeling more like a Polish. He no longer can tell who is his enemy and who is his ally.He started to have a perspective from the Polish view and seeing another point of view of this war.
He lost his anger, his motivation, his drive for disliking the Germans as he pretended and lived like he was not a Jew. -
News of near libration spread, but his first instinct was to go to the church and pray. He saw himself as Jan Kochaniski, and maybe Jakob Kuperblum but from a blurry distance away.
He had always wanted to be free and tell everyone and not be ashamed that he was a Jew, but now he is kind of backing away from what he had "always wanted".
He gave up his religion for his survival as he needed to pray at the different homes he stayed at. He knows he's a Jew, but he is doing that anyways. -
After escaping the Kozaks, he finally found and returned to the Golombeks. They couple offered to take him in as their own son, but Jakob turned them down.
This was a turn because instead of keep on running away and finding safety and warmth, he is now running away to actually wanting to find possible family.
He gave up his name, identity, belief, but now he refuses to give the little hope that his family is still somewhere waiting for him. He has not forgotten who he was and where he came from. -
After Motel continuously pressured and angered Jakob, Jakob almost called Motel a “dirty Jew” right in front of his face.
Through this, Jakob had thought of himself of Polish and imagined Motel like the little Jew that he was running away from the Poles. He had openly expressed his dislike for Jewish despite the fact that he is Jewish and he had hated the term for himself.
He lost a part of himself, he now pretends that he is no longer that weak little Jew that was a runaway. -
At first, Jakob refused to write his name on the wall, for he was afraid that people would remember and come for him. However, in the end, he wrote, “ Jankele Kuperblum is alive” in hope that someone may be able to find him.
A turn as Jakob has finally come to accept his identity and no longer fear or have resentment against who he is.
Even through everything that he has given up, betrayed, or had to do to keep himself alive, he still, in the end, accepted and remembered who he really is. -
Sometimes it is worth losing everything to survive, but despite everything, one should not lose their identity.
