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Chapter 7
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in I Am David, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Freedom and Identity
Intelligence vs. Morality
Survival and Meaning
God and Religion
Childhood
Summary
Analysis
Down from the mountains, it’s spring. When David tries to buy food with his remaining Italian money, he learns he has to exchange it for Swiss money at a bank. Though fearful, he does: King eats a lot. Swiss people strike David as rather grim, but Switzerland is so beautiful that it makes him glad to be alive. Once he manages to earn a little money, he buys a stamp and writes a letter to Carlo where he explains that he has realized Carlo probably isn’t evil after all and so no longer loathes him—but he threatens to loathe Carlo anew if Carlo is violent again. He writes Carlo’s name, the father’s name, and the name of their town on the envelope and posts it.
Once again, beauty makes David glad to be alive. Although David no longer believes that beauty is a sufficient reason to live by itself, he accepts it as one of several reasons to live now that he hopes to obtain love and belonging from his long-lost mother as well. David’s letter to Carlo shows David’s uneven moral maturation: on the one hand, David acknowledges that one bad action doesn’t make Carlo evil and deserving of eternal hatred—but on the other hand, he tells Carlo he’ll loathe him if Carlo commits the same bad action twice. In other words, David has become more understanding and forgiving of others’ failings—but not by very much.
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Themes
David hitchhikes with King through Switzerland to the German border, where he once again takes a detour on foot to avoid the official border crossing. One in Germany, a worried-looking but nice Swiss trucker who noticed David avoiding the border crossing offers to drive him and King as far as Frankfurt. When they reach Frankfurt, the driver gives David five marks and asks him to say truthfully whether he’s run away from his parents. David swears he hasn’t and thanks the driver for his help. They wave goodbye to each other—something David has never done before.
Again, this passage suggests that the “concentration camp” from which David escaped was not a Holocaust-era Nazi camp but a Cold War-era communist gulag—David would not be hitchhiking through an apparently peaceful Germany if he escaped from Nazis. Even at this late stage in the novel, David continues to have new experiences: here, he waves goodbye to someone for the first time. This small incident shows how inexperienced David still is in some ways despite his many adventures since escaping the camp.
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Themes
David and King keep hitchhiking. David’s courteous way of talking to King amuses the drivers, but David, who hates being bossed around, refuses to boss King around. He likes King’s company, and though he knows King would be no match for “them” and their guns, he finds King’s protective streak reassuring. Then one evening, they are approaching the border with Denmark when David spies a group of “them” up ahead. David hides behind a bush, and King joins him. David is miserably convinced that the guards will have a list of people of interest that includes his name and description, particularly noting that he has the eyes of a “prisoner.”
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Themes
David is so close to “them” that he fears he won’t get away unseen and unheard. He resolves to run and be shot rather than let himself be recaptured and sent back to the camp. He begins crying, but when it makes King whine, he forces himself to stop. Instead, he prays. He tells God he knows God has no power over “them” because they don’t know or fear God, only their human commanders. Ergo, he knows God can’t save him. But he asks God, for his final favor, to save King. Then he tells God he has to go run and be shot before he loses his nerve.
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David whispers at King to stay still and escape while “they” are distracted by David. But King, a sheepdog who has “sensed danger,” has other plans: he licks David, leaps from hiding, and runs barking at the men. David understands that King wants David to escape, so David sprints away as hard as he can. Behind him, he hears one of the men howl and then a gunshot, and he realizes they’ve killed King. After a moment David realizes he’s successfully made his escape, but he doesn’t stop running for a long time.
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Themes
David hides in a ditch and, weeping uncontrollably, tells God that God shouldn’t have caused King to sacrifice himself for David’s safety. Then it occurs to David that King, a sheepdog through and through, had known the danger and may have freely chosen to die to keep David safe. He asks himself whether it was God or King who made the final decision. In either case, it strikes him that he was never really able to help King, but King died to save him: “So one could get something for nothing after all?”
In a daze, David hitchhikes into Denmark. A driver with children David’s age smuggles him across the border so he won’t have to deal with customs officers when he’s obviously distressed. As David rides toward Copenhagen, he notices the countryside has “beauty” but can’t fully appreciate it in his depletion. Once in Copenhagen, David finds a directory in a payphone box and gets the address of Hjort Fengel, E. He asks a passing woman for directions, and she offers to give him a ride. When David reaches Edith’s house, he’s so tired he’s almost falling over, but he rings the doorbell. When Edith opens it, he announces that his name is David. Edith looks at him closely and replies, “David . . . my son David . . .”
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