Techniques and effects
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Time and Place
Voice &Tone
one of the techniques she used was time and place. In Eisenstein’s memoir, we noticed that it felt as though we were in her in her mind while she recall certain things, which is very interesting. There were times when we saw through the eyes of a child in the 50’s and 60’s, and times where we saw through her eyes when she was an adult. As mentioned in our interview with Eisenstein, there is not a chronological order to things, but rather a collection of people and the memories attached to them.
Another technique she used was atmosphere. Many of her illustrations often felt very surreal and dreamlike, which we believe may have been intentional, as these illustrations were often reflecting memories, dreams, and hypothetical situations. Often times, when conveying a more somber mood and atmosphere, her washes and use of media would become darker and bolder. When addressing themes and people such as her mother, and the Ghosts of the dead, her lines would become more light and delicate, portraying a more dream like feeling.
Voice &Tone
Just by analyzing the cover page, you can already assume that the memoir will encompass a dark, grim atmosphere because the title is drawn in a horror movie fashion and we see a little child, Bernice Eisenstein, casting a frightening shadow of her parents. For the most part in the memoir, we sense that Bernice’s voice and tone is dark to fit the context of her life: a young girl being born to parents who were told that they must die. This is evident when Bernice relates the drug, Heroin, to herself, the Holocaust, and even to literature and film: “Reels of film, along with printed pages from books, could all be chopped up into a fine powder, laid down, row upon row, and snorted” (I was a Child of Holocaust Survivors, 2006, p.20). As well, “The Holocaust is a drug and I have entered an opium den” (I was a Child of Holocaust Survivors, 2006, p.20). This type of attitude can be expected because being connected to the Holocaust was not “Rainbows and Butterflies” but a grave time when millions of people were killed for possessing a certain ethnic background.
As you continue to read, we notice a large amount of bittersweet humour portrayed in the memoir through an intimate tone. Although she went through many struggles and tough times, she states that humour “is a good vantage point from which to stand and look out from when you look into a dark place; because you might see more” (Eisenstein, personal communication, 2011). An example of humour being used in the memoir is when her father says he would lie down in front of a truck for her so she “expects the event, looking over [her] shoulder for the truck to come tearing down the road” (I was a Child of Holocaust Survivors, 2006, p.34) which is an expression defining his undying love for his daughter but she takes it literally to the point where she’s waiting for the event to occur.
Bernice Eisenstein also avoids the stereotypical clichés about survivors where they pity themselves and expect sympathy from others. She writes (I was a Child of Holocaust Survivors, 2006, p.53):
Am I too whiny, too angry, too petulant? Boo hoo, poor little survivor’s child… You see, I have this problem—growing up in the house hold of my parents was not tragic, but their past was. My life was not cursed, theirs was. They were born under an unfavourable star and forced to sew it onto their clothing. Yet here I am, some Jewish Sisyphus, pushing history and memory uphill, wondering what I’m supposed to be, and what I really feel like is a rebellious child, wanting to stand before my parents and say, Here, take it, it’s yours, I don’t want it.
Eisenstein uses speech like patterns in her writing which makes the readers feel as if they are having a conversation with her. Additionally she will often add in Yiddish which gives her voice a beautiful flair: “All is farfolen (lost). The day is fertig (finished)...” (Eisenstein, 2006, p. 64) While her language (voice) is easy to understand it also maintains a sense of narrative sophistication. For example: “My life was not cursed, theirs was. They were born under an unfavourable star and forced to sew it onto their clothing. Yet here I am, some Jewish Sisyphus, pushing history and memory uphill...” (2006, p.53)
Point of View
With respect to the point of view, Bernice Eisenstein writes in first-person point of view for the most part throughout the memoir. The only time she does not use this perspective is when she shifts the story to her mother’s Holocaust experiences in her point of view. The main reason for this is because Bernice had possession of her mother’s story on a physical tape. Therefore, she states that “it was hers to be told” (Eisenstein, personal communication, 2011). This part of the memoir is found in page 101 where Bernice’s mother begins by introducing herself and then sharing her experiences of the Holocaust.
Other notable techniques
Another notable technique we found she use was colour. Often time’s image of people or certain events more grounded in present times and reality, used washes of beautiful colour to draw emphasis to them. The contrast between her bold and dark memory imagery, and colorful reality based imagery, was a highly effective way of conveying the differences between time frames, and passages of time.
Eisenstein, B. (2006). I was a child of Holocaust survivors.
Toronto, On: McClelland & Stewart Ltd.
Toronto, On: McClelland & Stewart Ltd.
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