Dougherty 1 1

Madison Dougherty

Mrs. Cramer

College Comp pd.2

17 December 2021

Helplessness to Hopefulness

Have you ever heard the stories from the damaged souls that were in the Holocaust?

Have you ever read stories where they kept looking for their loved ones and never lost hope even

if they still hadn't been found? In the book “They Went Left”, by Monica Hesse depicts a

compelling story, which she conveys through a unique structure, and uses to emphasize the

theme of never losing hope.

In the beginning of the book Zofia had shared a memory from when her and Abek were

talking to the soldiers that decided what concentration camp they would be going into. On page

13 Hesse wrote “I kept Abeks hand in mine an dragged him with me to the soldier, my brother is

twelve and I am fifteen, I told them I can sew and run a loom.” The structure of going back to

her memories and having some hope that Zofia and her brother Abek would be useful in the

camps instead of being sent left to where the people that had not been useful would get cremated.

The hope that Zofia had worked because she and Abek both did not get sent left, but

unfortunately the rest of her family did. The hope that Zofia kept throughout the camps that one

day they would be saved, and that is what kept her alive.

Monica Hesse had authored the book so that the main character, Zofia, would connect

with the readers and make them feel sad emotions towards the Zofia and what had happened to
 Dougherty 1 2

her. In the beginning of the read Monica Hesse had made Zofia go back and remember

everything that had happened to her. On page 17 Zofia was on her way home and kept having

flashbacks. “Sometimes it was whole towns turned into mass graves. I squeeze my eyes shut. It

over, it's over, it's over.” The author uses the structure of flashbacks to really get the readers'

attention and1 have them connect to Zofia in some way.

After Zofia had left the camps and travelled home, the first and only person she cared

about finding was her brother, Abek. He was not home so she travelled hundreds of miles just to

go and find him. She finally stopped and rested at a farmhouse where she had met Joseph. Joseph

and Zofia had a rough start but ended up connecting and he offered to give her transportation to

her next destination to find her brother. They did not end up finding Abek but Jospeh admired

her determination and hopefulness that she had in finding him. On page 148 Joseph said, “you

seemed hopeful, and when we got to Kloster Indorf, and your brother wasn’t there- you seemed

hopeful.” This was an important part to supporting the theme in the story, being hopeful because

no matter what event took place, and even when Zofia could not find Abek and she was tired

from searching, she still never lost hope in him being alive, safe, and that one day they would

find their way back to each other.

Finally, towards the end of the book, after Zofia did not end up finding her brother, she

did although she found a boy who still had hopes of finding a family. On page 344 it says, “He

would pretend that maybe they had survived even though his family did not, and he could go be

part of them.” The little boy knew his family was gone but he always had hope that one day he

would be able to be a part of a family that was once like his. This quote from the boy in the book

supports the theme of hope because even after everything, having his rights taken away, being

transported to a concentration camp, watching thousands of people die, leaving his family, and
 Dougherty 1 3

being so deprived from life, he still had hope that one day life could go back to the way it was

before the Holocaust took place. The boy wanted to see Zofia as someone apart from his family

even if they did not know each other earlier in life.

In the book “They Went Left,” by Monica Hesse depicts a compelling story, which she

conveys through a unique structure, and uses to emphasize the theme of never losing hope. The

author made the audience feel emotions towards the characters by making them have hope. She

made Zofia never lose hope of finding her brother, even when her past haunts her and hundreds

of thousands of others every single day. No matter what happened she never lost hope and stayed

determined to find her brother, even when she did not find her brother and connected with

another little boy, it still gave them both hope. This is the story of helplessness to hopefulness.

Work cited

Monicas Hesse, They went left. Normal Illinois, April 17th 2020 print.