Vine and Fence
World War II has destroyed an unbelievable number of families in Poland, but many children did not give up. Anne Michaels’ novel “Fugitive Pieces” introduces us to a Jewish boy that lost his family in the Second World War. Even though, the book was written years after the war, it provides us with a good understanding of the emotional chaos many people experienced. Nevertheless, this book also tells the story of a relationship that develops in the heat of the war. Athos and Jakob were two very different characters who were brought together, forgetting the pain of their pasts and starting new lives.
Athos Roussos, a Greek geologist, finds Jakob a 7-year-old Jewish boy from Poland hiding in a forest in Biskupin, an archeological site known as the “Polish Pompeii.” Athos knows right away after seeing Jakob that this boy needs his help in order to survive the war. He knows how dangerous it is to smuggle the Jewish boy across all the borders along the long way to his home in Greece. He decides to bring Jakob to Zakynthos, a Greek island, where he is able to hide the boy from the Nazi soldiers that are trying to kill him. First, Jakob has problems adjusting to the situation that his parents are dead and his sister is missing, but with Athos’ help he finds a way to move on with his life.
Athos and Jakob are living together on Zakynthos for many years. Michaels, the author, brings up the question about their relationship, making the reader ask himself how each of them benefits from being with each other. The author lets Jakob explain “We were a vine and a fence. But who was the vine? We would both have answered differently” (Pg. 108). Michaels gives the impression that the roles are clearly defined in the relationship. Jakob is the helpless young boy that is rescued from his tragic destiny by Athos. From this perspective, Michaels makes Jakob the vine that