Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Reckoning, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Guilt and Legacy
Morality, Survival, and Perspective
Sexuality and Shame
Body Image and Publicity
Indifference vs. Feeling
Summary
Analysis
Inspired by Colonel Wołodyjowski, Magda delved deeper into the Holocaust, reading Exodus and Miła 18 by Leon Uris; while reading, she sympathized with the Jews. But when Magda read how the Poles had treated the Jews—refusing to support their uprisings and selling them to the Nazis—Magda was devastated: the gallant Poles were bad people.
Magda’s research brings her face to face with an instance of moral uncertainty. While the Poles were on the “right side” of the war, it was no black-and-white matter: the Poles also abused the Jews. This example shows how during war, the struggle to survive can make morality messy and ambiguous.
Themes
Magda found Peter, who was ironing a shirt, and challenged him, arguing that the Poles were as bad as the Germans. Peter said that some Poles were bad, but not all of them; Leon Uris hadn’t been in Poland and didn’t know the choices that the Poles had to make. Magda accused Peter of not giving guns to the Jews. Losing his temper, Peter said that the Poles had no guns to give. Nonetheless, shame entered Magda’s soul; she decided that she was not a good person.
Peter’s explanation states that there was no good side or bad side during the war. Since people on both sides did bad things, it was up to the individual to protect and uphold their own personal morality. In spite of this empowering remark, Magda absorbs the shame of her ancestors—she has not yet made a choice that would solidify her individual idea of “right.”
Themes
