The Theme Of Everything Is Discrimination By Jonathan Safran Foer

While reading Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, the journey of two generations told their story about their lifetime. The story of the past includes the birth of Brod, Brod’s tragedy, Brod and Kolker and Safran and Zosha’s marriage, and the death of Yankel, Zosha, and Alex’s grandfather. While the story of the future is about the quest of a young boy named Alex guiding Jonathan Safran Foer to find answers from the past and to find if Augustine, the woman who saved Jonathan’s grandfather from the Nazis in Trachimbrod, is truly still alive. Within the novel, the two stories are intermixed between chapters and it becomes an adventure to connect the dots. The true question to be asked is, do the events of the past prove everything happened so that Alex could be saved or that he could save Igor? As Alex set out
his journey to find Augustine, the story of Trachimbrod unfolds. The quote on page 39 states, “We must go backward in order to go forward.” This meaning, Alex and Jonathan must set out to Trachimbrod, Alex’s grandfather’s and Augustine’s home during the war. On the expedition through Ukraine, Jonathan goes on about the past and what lead him to where they are today. He starts off with the story on how Broad was born at the time of the wagon accident. The baby surfaced in the Brod river and the body of Tachim, who was once upon the wagon, was never found. As the baby sat in the Synagogue, no one knew what to do with the newborn. However, the right thing to do is let the baby choose where she should go, right? Once the slips are in the baby’s crib she chooses Yankel, this is called the lottery. Due to the loss of his wife and children, Yankel wore a bead around his neck in shame and made one for the baby too after naming her Brod. Little did he know the amazing relationship Brod and Yankel shared would lead to the meeting of Alex and Jonathan. As Jonathan and Alex reminisce the past, they continue on their journey of finding Augustine. Once the two get to the area where Trachimbrod once lied, the begin to ask locals about the town that once lived. However, no one claims to have even heard of the town until one uneasy woman caught Alex’s eye. Alex continues, and continues, and continues to pester this woman with questions because he believes she knows about Tachimbrod and Jonathan’s grandfather. After an upsetting interview, Alex stated they were searching for Trachimbrod the woman breaks down and says, “You are here. I am it” (118). When woman leads them to her home, Jonathan explains more about the life Brod endured. After Brod discovers Yankel dead in the library, she marries the Kolker and he saves her from her sadness. Back at the woman’s home, the rooms were swarmed with boxes filled with everything, even dust. Grandfather began to ask her more questions about Augustine and she answered back that she was not Augustine and she had pictures to prove it. She brought out pictures of Herschel and brought forth truth on this stories that happened once in Trachimbrod and this greatly upset grandfather until the pictures began to spark something in his memory. Grandfather and Augustine excused us so they could talk and in just a few minutes their conversation was over and they were going to travel to Trachimbrod. As they reached Trachimbrod there was nothing to be seen and this confused Alex, Jonathan and grandfather. Augustine explained how the Nazi burned the town to the ground starting at the synagogue. As Augustine and grandfather exchanged stories, the night grew to a close. Augustine revealed her real name as Lista, and disappeared into the night. As the three men moved onto the journey they stopped in a bar to have a few drinks and look inside the box labeled “In Case” to find the Book of Past Occurrences and a picture of a man very similar to what Jonathan looked like. As grandfather explained who was in the picture he said, “I am not a bad person, I am a good person who has lived in a bad time.” (227) This is when he explained the toughness in the war and about having to kill his best friend, Herschel. Grandfather kills himself and that is the end of Alex’s book. As the novel continues, Alex’s book begins to end and this is where the reader is left with the remainder of Jonathan’s book. At this point, back in Trachimbrod, Yankel has died and Brod has married Kolker. Moving forward to 1941, Safran fell in love with the Gypsy girl as the Nazi bombs fell over Trachimbrod. When Safran fell out of love with the Gypsy girl she claimed she had fallen out of love too. However, when Safran claimed he was in an arrangement to marry Zosha she began asking questions and going crazy over this woman they both did not know. As Safran and Zosha fall in love they have a child. As the child is born everyone begins to celebrate, but just as they begin to celebrate they find Zosha dead. This is when the pale bodies rose from the Brod river and Jonathan realized that they must kill their own babies to save them. This part of the novel may be hard to understand, but the reader might see this as one sacrifice is needed for another to be free, as Alex might need to sacrifice himself to save himself and Igor. While reading the novel Everything is Illuminated it is clear the actions made in the past of Alex’s story do effect the future outcome. In the beginning of the novel it was stated everything was to be done for Igor. However, towards the end of the novel in the letter to Jonathan it states, “All is for Sasha and Iggy.” This meaning everything Alex endured was for the happiness to reappear in his grandfather and that there would peace in Alex’s home. Although Alex did not know at the time, Jonathan’s story was initially an advocate for Alex to stand up against his father to save himself. According to Ethics in the Second Degree: Trauma and Dual Narratives in Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Everything is Illuminated” by Francisco Collado-Rodriguez, he states, “Yet the tears that flow in Alex’s report when his grandfather last reveals the truth about the massacre is a reminder of free will, of the place of free will in historical reality.” This means it was up to Alex the entire time to save himself and Igor. The events in the past needed to occur so the journey Alex and Jonathan took could lead them to note grandfather left for Alex. In the article, Almost Friends: Post Holocaust Comedy, Tragedy, and friendship in Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Everything is Illuminated,” by Menachem Feuer, he states “In other words, in this novel, creative writing may lead to self-discovery, but it may not change the relationship between Jonathan and Alex, which is ultimately formed by history and memory.” The relationship Jonathan and Alex shared ultimately lead them back in time to relive each memory for Jonathan to find about his grandfather and Alex to find himself. While reading Everything is Illuminated, many readers struggle with keeping up with both stories within the novel.
In the story of Tachimbrod, Alex and Jonathan learned about the journey of Brod and Safran. They endured the birth of Brod, the loss of Yankel, Safan’s love with the Gypsy woman, Zosha’s death and the discovery of the holocaust victims. As they traveled to the old remains of Trachimbrod to find Augustine, they learned about grandfather’s experience in the war and his traumatic murder of his best friend. All this was needed to be recollected in order for Alex to help Jonathan learn about his grandfather’s past and for Alex to save his brother Igor and himself from a house of violence. A quote from The Zahir states, “My heart might be bruised, but it will recover and become capable of seeing beauty of life once more. It’s happened before, it will happen again, I’m sure. When someone leaves, it’s because someone else is about to arrive - I’ll find love again.” Alex may have went back in the past through memories and visited times of sadness, but he will move forward in order to save himself and essentially find love and peace
again.