White Bird: A Wonder Story

“…those were dark times, yes…but what has stayed with me the most…is not the darkness…but the light.”

Grandmère chooses to share her story with Julian, even though it is difficult for her to talk about. Along with wanting Julian’s generation to know about the past, she also wants to share the kindnesses she experienced during those “dark times.” This is what saw her through, supporting the idea that kindness can be truly lifesaving.

“In the winter, the Mernuit was a dark and scary place. There were many legends, going back centuries, about giant wolves that roamed the woods. They came and went with the fog.”

The Mernuit forest, which bordered Sara’s village, serves as an important setting in the book. It witnessed many escapes, successful (Sara escaped Vincent) and unsuccessful (the maquisard and the Jewish schoolchildren were apprehended; Julien and his fellow prisoners were killed). The forest symbolizes human nature, housing both miraculous things (symbolized by the bluebells), as well as extreme cruelty (symbolized by the wolf).

“The bluebells would come into bloom. The entire forest floor would turn bright blue and violet. It not only looked magical, it WAS magical, since bluebells were not usually found as far south as we were. And yet, here they bloomed! Truly, it was like a fairy tale in every way.”

The bluebells that bloom in the Mernuit during spring are described as “magical” by Sara. The flowers represent a hope for new beginnings, appearing every spring. Their prominence in Sara’s pre-war life also highlights the happy and secure life that she led before the Nazis arrived.

“To be truthful, it was easier for me not to think about all the restrictions placed upon us. I was still desperately trying to hold on to a sense of normalcy. I was still desperately trying to hold on to my fairy-tale life.”

Even after the Vichy government takes over France, including the Free Zone by 1942, Sara still chose to ignore the reality of her circumstances. Having grown up safe and safe and sheltered, even a little spoiled,” Sara found it difficult to imagine a harder, harsher reality. Her inability to accept the events illustrates her youthful optimism and foreshadows the hardships to come.

“I loved to draw. Birds. Flowers. Leaves. Drawing was my escape from the world. When I drew, I would forget about the war, the Nazis, and everything that was going on around me. I would lose myself in the lines and doodles of my imagination. I would feel my soul take flight…”

Doodling provided an escape for Sara. It was an outlet for her to express her hopes and dreams. The sketchbook in which Sara doodled serves as a physical expression of these hopes and dreams and plays a key role in how events unfold over the course of the book. The image of the white bird as her soul taking flight appears in the illustration accompanying this quote, symbolizing the freedom of her soul and her imagination, despite the circumstances that surround her.

“I knew that I wasn’t being very nice. But I also knew that there were others who treated him far worse. There were others who went out of their way to be mean to him.”

Even as Sara accepted the sketchbook that Julien returned to her, she was not especially nice. She justified her attitude as better than how others, such as Vincent, treated Julien. Over the course of the book, however, Sara comes to realize how silence of inaction in the face of evil only serves to condone it further; good can only triumph if people refuse to be by-standers, and actively speak up in defense of the oppressed.

“[T]hat was the first time I had ever personally experienced anti-Semitism. I felt so…humiliated. Angry. Hurt. To be attacked—not for something I have done, but for something I am…this was new to me. And it shook me to the core. […] I could not put it out of my mind. […] The world seemed more ominous than it had before. I could no longer pretend that my life was normal. Not when the world was full of so much hate. […] I let myself realize that my life was not a fairy tale anymore. Perhaps it never would be again.”

Sara’s first experience of anti-Semitism, in a conversation with Vincent, left her shaken, and broke the bubble she was living in. Having been a smart, talented, and well-liked, it was unnerving to her to be judged not for her abilities or behavior, but for something she had no control over—her racial and ethnic identity.

“I try not to think in terms of good and bad. I prefer to think in terms of light and dark. I believe that all people have a light that shines inside of them. This light allows us to see into other people’s hearts, to see the beauty there. […] Some people […] have lost this light […] all they see in others [is] darkness. […] they cannot see our light. Not can they extinguish it. […] That is why they hate us. Because they will never take our light from us.”

Papa addressed Sara’s query about why people hate the Jews. His response was a balanced and non-judgmental one—despite the atrocities being committed against the Jews by the Nazis, Papa encouraged Sara not to think of people as “good” or “bad.” He gave her hope by urging her to stay strong herself, rather than put someone else down. This call to dignity and empathy stands in stark contrast to how the Nazis operated throughout the war.

“‘But, Sara, where is your coat?’ ‘I left it in the art room this morning. I’m sorry.’ ‘It’s okay. Take my scarf. It’ll keep you warm.’”

Even as Mademoiselle Petitjean attempted to help the Jewish children escape, she noticed that Sara did not have her coat with her and gives Sara her own scarf to keep her warm. Small kindnesses such as these have a huge impact in times of crises. Later, Julien does something similar for Sara, giving her his threadbare coat as they escape together through the sewers. It is these small acts that constitute the “light” that remains with Sara, later in life.

“And that is the name, of all names in the world, that I have held closest to my heart since then. It is the name I gave to your father. It is the name he gave to you. Julian.”

Julien remains an important name and figure in Sara’s life, and she passes the name onto her own son, which is given to her grandson as well. In a symbol of hope and events coming full-circle, the book ends with Sara’s grandson Julian protesting against xenophobic governmental policies in the streets of New York—just as Sara’s Julien once did by helping Sara escape the Nazis.

“I would look out that tiny window for hours to end. From there, I could see the edge of the woods, the fields, and the sky. It reminded me of how beautiful the world still was. Even if physically I couldn’t go out into it anymore…my imagination could still roam…as free as a bird.”

Although Sara did not have her sketchbook with her when she initially began living in the barn, she continued to daydream. The freedom to do so helped keep her alive and sane, allowing her to hope for the future. This freedom is represented by image of a white bird soaring over treetops, even as Sara herself is confined to the hayloft, which accompanies this quote.

“We had so much fun, on our magical car rides! For a little while, we could be children again, laughing and being silly, acting like we didn’t have a care in the world.”

Sara’s life changed overnight, going from protected child to a refugee on the run. However, in Julien’s company, Sara felt like a child again. These moments of lightness and laughter indicate that Sara and Julien were compatible as people, able to laugh about and enjoy similar things; it points to how, despite obvious differences, people may be more alike than one initially believes.

“He had become my best friend, my confidant, my co-conspirator. We had in common one crucial thing: we were different from other children. This is what cemented our friendship. What gave it depth. What made us understand each other.”

Sara and Julien’s friendship grew in strength over time. Along with the lighter moments, they shared the experience of persecution—in Julien’s case due to his physical disability and in Sara’s case due to her ethnicity. This allowed them to grow closer to and empathize with each other. Once again, this indicates that as different as people may be, there is always space to find common ground.

“Julien always found a way to make me feel better, no matter what. You see, it is not just that he saved my life. He saved my very being. My hope. My…light.”

Julien reassured Sara that she would see her Papa once again someday; this reassurance helped Sara feel better about her situation, and she asserts that he saved her “hope” and “light,” along with her life. Julien consistently did this, symbolized by how he brings Sara the sketchbook at great risk to his own life. The sketchbook is a physical representation of Sara’s hopes and dreams, and while it eventually brings about Julien’s own arrest and death, Sara’s life, hope, and future all remain protected by his actions.

“You’re pathetic and weak! You know what Nazis do with inferior humans? They exterminate them. Like the vermin you are. That’s what they’re doing to the Jews. And that’s what they’ll do to you.”

Vincent threatened Julien in the barn before he attacked him. Vincent specifically referred to a Nazi-run program, which involved killing or sterilizing people with disabilities. This eugenic practice extended to “prisoners, degenerates, dissidents”; people with congenital cognitive and physical disabilities; homosexual, transgender, and intersex people; and those with psychiatric or other mental conditions. Tens of thousands of patients in mental asylums and hospitals are recorded to have died in this time, owing to unethical and inadequate care (215). When Julien is arrested later in the book, he is grouped together with patients arrested from a mental asylum, all of whom are killed by the Nazis.

“It’s not up to God to make it end, Pastor. Evil will only be stopped when good people decide to put an end to it. It is our fight, not God’s.”

Vivienne expressed this belief to Pastor Luc when he bemoaned the state of a world in which people like Vincent carry out violent acts towards those like Julien and Sara. Vivienne’s belief in the responsibility and possibility of human beings in stopping evil is what resistance groups such as the Maquis rallied around. Their slogan, “Vive L’Humanité,” similarly expressed their belief in the goodness and dignity of human life.

“In these dark times, it’s those small acts of kindness that keep us alive, after all. They remind us of our humanity.”

Vivienne consoled Sara as she felt guilty about Julien retrieving her sketchbook, which resulted in Vincent finding and attacking him. Vivienne’s assertion that Julien's act of kindness in bringing the sketchbook to Sara was important, is in keeping with Vivienne’s character. Throughout the book, she consistently performs small acts of kindnesses, not just for Sara, but for the Lafleurs as well. In addition to making it a point to visit Sara everyday despite the trouble it causes her, Vivienne also leaves regularly brings the Lafleurs milk, despite them not being friends anymore.

“The truth is, it doesn’t matter how you used to be. It only matters how you are now.”

Julien accepted Sara’s apology, reassuring her that she has grown from the selfish, self-absorbed person she used to be. Julien’s reassurance that it is more important for one to learn from one’s past stays with Sara, and she passes this message on to her own grandson, Julian. Julian, in turn, internalizes this—in sharp contrast to his past as a bully, the end of the book sees Julian take to the streets in protest against laws targeting migrants and refugees.

“What we learned that night, and ever night after that, was that there was nothing that could ever come between us. Our friendship could survive anything—even my self-absorbed ways, and his smug smile every time he beat me at cards.”

Sara and Julien got past the hurt and humiliation of Vincent attacking Julien, and Julien lashing out at Sara. Their shared experiences, as well as a genuine liking and respect for each other, ensured a strong foundation to their friendship; furthermore, they both grew, and were able to see each other in new light. Sara and Julien’s ability to move past their fight stands testament to Julien’s earlier assertion that it doesn’t matter how one used to be, only how one is at present.

“I got used to everything. That is a trick of human nature. We get used to things. I even got used to the awful hand-me-downs I had to wear […] And those fancy red shoes I had been so worried about ruining? Now, I used them to shoo away the mice! […] All the things that used to matter so much to me before—my nice clothes, my popularity—none of that mattered anymore.”

As time passed, Sara recognized how she changed and grew. This passage calls to the resilience and adaptability, of human nature. Despite having lived a cushy life growing up, Sara was eventually able to get used to her new, difficult circumstances. She adapted and learned, one of her lessons being that there are more important things in life than clothes and popularity to worry about. The transformation over time in how she views and uses her red shoes exemplify this.

“I could not imagine how many ration cards Vivienne had to save to be able to make a chocolate cake for me. With so many food shortages, chocolate was impossible to find. And yet, she managed to bake me a chocolate cake for my birthday. To this day, it was the most delicious cake I’ve ever eaten in my life!”

Among the many small kindnesses carried out by Vivienne, is her taking the effort to make Sara’s birthday special by saving rations for months to bake her a chocolate cake. Vivienne is a character who exemplifies kindness as bravery, and kindness as selflessness—in addition to risking her life in sheltering Sara, Vivienne is consistently thoughtful, carrying out small acts of kindness every day.

“That night, I slept more peacefully than I had ever slept before. I dreamed that I was walking in the forest among bluebells. A flock of white birds came down through the trees. They surrounded me. They lifted me up. And I was flying.”

After walking among the bluebells with Julien and confessing her love for him, Sara slept and dreamt well that night. Bluebells appeared in her dream, signaling a hope for new beginnings—a new future she dreams of with Julien. The flock of white birds lifting Sara up symbolize how free she feels in the love she feels for Julien, and the life she hopes to live with him. In an ironic twist, this is the last time she will ever see Julien again, as he is arrested and eventually killed the next day.

“You might forget many things in your life, but you never forget kindness. Like love, it stays with you…forever. […] it always takes courage to be kind. But in those days, when such kindnesses could cost you everything—your freedom, your life—kindness becomes a miracle. It becomes that light in the darkness that Papa talked about, the very essence of our humanity. It is hope.”

Sara reminisces about the Beaumiers and all they did for her, pointing at one of the most important themes of the book: It takes courage to be kind. Kindness as a form of bravery is highlighted by the risks taken by the Beaumiers in sheltering Sara; however, even the smaller acts become lifesaving in a time of crisis, as she asserts. Kindness is the essence of humanity, something reiterated by both Vivienne and Papa, in the past; its nature is hope, and it is what stayed with Sara long after the war, as Grandmère asserts to Julien in the Prologue.