The Second World War, lasting from 1939-1945 has had a lasting impact on the world. For some, more negative than others, it is simply a marvel how such a horrific event can potentially lead to equally bright new happenings. In the book Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels, the main character and narrator, Jakob, was serendipitously physically saved from the way by the Greek scientist Athos Roussos. Over time, Jakob grew into a person who could only be defined through true silence, which was seen in his relationship with Athos, his romantic links, and his connection with geographic locations and languages.
It is in these ties of Jakob’s life the only language he is fluent in is evident: silence. When Athos first starts taking care of Jakob, he notes that “sometimes I can’t look you in the eye; you’re like a building burned out inside, outer walls still standing” (p. 30). Through this metaphor, Athos tells Jakob how all of the tragedy that has surrounded him leaves him with mere silence inside.
All the things that have happened to Jakob leave nothing to say, because the tragedy wipes away all of the emotions. Before the Holocaust, the insides of Jakob, his heart and soul, are filled with of Bella, his parents, and his best friend, Mones.The war wipes out that of which his insides consist of, leaving him only physically alive. Inside, he is empty, and when there is emptiness, there is always silence. When Jakob is a teenager, he tells the reader that “it was [Athos’s] touch that kept me from falling into myself too far” (p. 60).
Jakob lives in this silence for as long as he has been living with Athos, since he lost his parents. Jakob tells the reader, in this citation, that that only thing saving him from complete gloom and silence was the “touch”, symbolically meaning the support, love, and care of Athos. Athos simultaneously offers Jakob unconscious understanding.Our secrets will be our courage when we need it” (p. 116), Athos tells Jakob, implying that this is the way Jakob survives.
Jakob keeps his memories of pain, and pain of memories deep inside for the often times he is feeling hellish, melancholy pain and they act as his strength, his anchor. After the death of Athos, Jakob is left with nobody to care for him. When Jakob meets Alex, she acts as the joyful breath of fresh air in a life where this kind of pleasant novelty is rarely encountered. With time, Alex herself realizes the world of silence Jakob lives in through his pain.
“…And she is [rescuing me].But each time a memory or story slinks away, it takes more of me with it” (p. 144). The world Jakob creates is so strong that even the love and will of a woman cannot make him escape the gloom. This is the only world he trusts, it is the only part of his life that cannot abandon him. Memories cannot leave one unless one allows it.
Every other world he has ever lived in has never had any positive meaning for him, but with memories of his passed close ones, he is safe. They can never abandon him unless he lets go of them, which is the only constant in his life. Constancy is what he is missing in every other aspect of his life.He had parents, but they passed.
He had Athos, but he passed after raising him. He had religion, but that became the reason for his problems in terms of the Holocaust. Perhaps the quest for constancy is the “perpetual thirst” (p. 121) Jakob is longing so strongly for. Although the marriage of Jakob with Alex was unsuccessful, the opposite is true for his union with Michaela.
“Love feeds on the protein of detail,” (p. 179) Jakob tells the reader. In Jakob’s life, it is the major things that play a crucial role in his life, such as the death of his parents, meeting Athos, as well as his migrations.He never pays attention to the detail in his life because he is always consumed with silent thoughts of the major events in his life. The only element retaining details are the memories of Bella’s musicality.
Michaela’s memories, containing rich detail: “I’m shocked at my hunger for her memories” (p. 179), have been like leaves on a bare tree. In essence, Jakob is an educated person, only physical surviving for as long as he has been living. On the inside, he is bare without the things that will make him alive, that make him blossom. Michaela had this: it was the details that brought Jakob out of the silence.Born in Poland, Jakob is exposed to the most horrible event of his life.
When he is brought to the land of Greece by Athos, he sees a new land where he has nobody except the new stranger Athos. Finally, when he moves to Canada, a new strange and even vulgar place, he is once again a stranger, truly residing only in his world of silence. “My life could not be stored in any language but only in silence,” (p. 111) Jakob tells the audience.
In silence, nobody is discriminating against him. In silence he never has to assimilate or adapt. In silence, Jakob will always have himself and his memories.The only way Jakob can be defined as a person is through his silence, because there lay all the terrible events that have shaped him.
Deep inside Jakob lie the memories and images of the only thing he has truly cherished: the people he loves, that are no longer with him. Later on in Jakob’s life, Kostas tells him that “some stones are so heavy only silence helps you carry them” (p. 77). There is no possible language or country that Jakob can identify himself with; only through his family, who are located deep inside his soul, where the language spoken is silence.Jakob’s tumultuous life and vulnerable soul have caused him to be defined in only one possible way: silence.
Being aware of this, it is easier to comprehend the actions and emotions of Jakob. Granted, it is never entirely reasonable to think that it is possible to understand a person who has endured such extreme loss and pain in his life. As a reader, one realizes that Jakob is a person that is incapable of finding a suitable physical home or a suitable language to speak, because he belongs with his close ones, who are located in the quiet of his soul.
