Kindertransport Essay

540 Words3 Pages
In Kindertransport by Diane Samuels, Helga asks Eva: “I was right to send you here, yes? It is good to survive. Is it not, Eva?” (77). I feel as if Helga made the right choice for Eva, she wanted what was best for her daughter at the time, and if sending her off to England would keep her safe and alive, why would she turn the opportunity down? At the time that Eva had to departure for England, she had a sense of what was going on around her however she never really understood the bigger picture, the main reason why she was being sent away. Eva questions her mother about why Karla and Heinrich aren’t being sent away too. Helga tries to explain to Eva why any “good parent” would send their children away if there was a place that would take them in; they want to protect their children. Eva asks Helga :”Cant you and Vati protect me?’ Helga answers, ”Only by sending you away” (6). Eva is perplexed about the whole situation; how is she safe with complete strangers? As a mother it is their duty to protect and care for their children, which was exactly what Helga wanted, she’d rather risk her life than her own daughter’s. Eva however doesn’t take note of that, and just thinks her mother doesn’t love her; that she’s abandoning her. Also, if Helga hadn’t sent her daughter away, then Eva probably wouldn’t have survived figuring that her own father didn’t. Eva was the reason why Helga held on for so long, and never gave up. When Helga arrives in a hotel in England to meet Eva, everything has changed. I feel as if Helga expected Eva to run into her arms and come with her back home. Helga however doesn’t realize that “home” isn’t the place it used to be; home is England. When Helga and Evelyn get into an argument Eva erupts like a volcano. She says,”(…) ‘No,’ you said. That was all. ‘No’. I won’t help you. You have to be able to manage on your own…” (86). Now Evelyn is ready
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