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The Painter/Sophie Hartmann
Edith Hjort Fengel is David’s long-lost mother. While Edith was living “abroad” in a politically repressive country with her husband and baby David, the entire family was arrested because her husband committed some political faux pas. Incarcerated in a concentration camp, Edith caught the eye of a guard (the man), who fell in love with her and helped her escape to Denmark. Much later, Edith’s friend Sophie Hartmann tells David Edith’s story, not knowing David is Edith’s long-lost son. From Sophie’s version of the story, David learns that Edith believes he is dead and surmises that the man, angry because Edith didn’t reciprocate his feelings, told her baby David had been killed as a kind of revenge.
Edith Hjort Fengel Quotes in I Am David
The I Am David quotes below are all either spoken by Edith Hjort Fengel or refer to Edith Hjort Fengel. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1 Quotes
And then quite suddenly David decided he would do it. He had turned it over in his mind until his head was in a whirl, and he still could not understand why the man had told him to escape. David had no wish to make the attempt: it would only be a question of time before he was caught. But suppose it were a trap and they shot him—it would all be over quickly anyway. If you were fired at while trying to escape, you would be dead within a minute. Yes, David decided to try.
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Chapter 6 Quotes
“Can you paint beautiful pictures, signora?”
The woman laughed. “No, they’re terrible! But just trying is something, isn’t it? You always go on hoping that one day you’ll manage it.”
“Yes. But one day you may realize you’ll never be able to.”
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Chapter 7 Quotes
Now and then he would find himself in the middle of a wonderful, happy daydream where he would fancy she would be glad . . . she would see at once that he was David and would want to love him just as the children’s father and mother loved the children in the house. Then he would come to the end of his wanderings. He would have a place where he belonged and would be able to ask about all the things he did not know and learn all he wanted to. She would say “my son” when she spoke of him, and he would never have to be afraid again.
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Edith Hjort Fengel Character Timeline in I Am David
The timeline below shows where the character Edith Hjort Fengel appears in I Am David. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6
Sophie explains to David that the woman in the photo is her friend Edith Hjort Fengel, who once lived with her husband in a country with a dangerous “political...
(full context)
Chapter 7
David struggles through snowy mountains toward Denmark, desperate to reach Edith. When he asked Sophie the name of the guard who helped Edith, it was the...
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...feelings. The man had conflicting feelings about David, hating him but caring about him for Edith’s sake. Now David has conflicting feelings about the man, whom he loathes but not “wholeheartedly”...
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...friends.” Yet David is desperate for winter to be over so he can go find Edith. He isn’t sure how she’ll react to him, but he secretly hopes he’ll “belong[]” with...
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Chapter 8
...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...
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