City of Orphans

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2000

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Chapters 36-42Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 36-42 Summary

Maks and Willa are unsure whether Donck can help them. Willa says he is quite ill saying her mom has similar symptoms at the end. She tells Maks Agnes has the same sickness, but Maks is in denial, saying she does not cough as much as Donck and his parents are saving money to send her to a doctor. Willa asks to stop by her alley to pick up something. It is still filled with garbage but otherwise empty. She scales the fence and returns carrying a blue box and a tattered porcelain doll. As they turn to leave the alley, Bruno blocks their way, hurling insults and taunting Maks for being with Willa. He does not attack but tells them that he and his gang will be coming for them soon. His threats are violent and murderous, but he is chuckling. He vanishes, leaving Maks and Willa shaking. They agree that they will never be rid of him, and Maks suggests maybe Willa does not want to return home with him. He does not want her to get mixed up in all his problems. Willa is worried she has dirtied her new dress and that Mama will be angry. Maks says, “Willa, it’s the city. Even the stinking air is dirty” (165).

The kids duck into a local bar to see what is inside the box. It is dark and dismal. Maks knows the barkeep, Otis, and he welcomes them in and seats them safely in a corner. Willa sits with her doll named Gretchen, a gift from her mom. Willa opens the box and produces a photograph of her family. They are well dressed, but her mother seems unhappy. She says she just wanted to prove to Maks that she did once have a family.

Bartleby Donck second-guesses his decision to help the children. He wonders why this story, no different than any other he has heard, compels him to get involved. He wants to teach them how to be true detectives. He observes how strong and fearless Willa is. He reminds himself of his failing health. He feels foolish and wonders why children come to him for help at all. The streetlight triggers a memory in his mind of a lovely lady with dark hair and eyes wearing a diamond necklace he gave her. He shakes himself loose of the memory and enters the restaurant nearby that serves cheap meals and permits use of the telephone for only five cents. The waiter shows him towards the phone, and he connects to the Waldorf Hotel. Donck wants to speak to a Mr. Packwood, his old friend from Pinkerton Detective Agency.

Maks has decided not to tell his parents about Bartleby Donck because they would not understand. Papa says that since Willa is to live with them and become part of their family, she may call him Papa. They do not have much, but they are glad to share with her. Willa tells him of her job at the dump, but Papa tells her that they will find her a new job. Willa will share a bed with Agnes. Monsieur Zulot arrives home sad that Agnes, “a smart young lady” (178), is not around. Mama corrects him, saying that Agnes is a girl, and then introduces Willa as their new family member. Zulot reads more from the detective story. Maks makes mental notes of how he can gather more evidence to help Emma. He notices that one of Bruno’s gang members is waiting outside. Agnes returns home from typing class. She is happy Willa is coming to live with them. Agnes coughs a lot during her meal, but she does have good news. She has found a lawyer who might be able to help them. Maks is concerned that they do not have enough money, and he tells her of his meeting with Bartleby Donck. Agnes is skeptical, but she is more worried about her job. The factory is closing in three weeks. Agnes continues to cough, and Willa decides to sleep on the kitchen floor, fearful of catching the disease. Maks takes Willa up to the rooftop to see the pigeons. He enjoys the view from the top as he can see the entire city, all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge. Willa falls asleep holding her doll.

Chapters 36-42 Analysis

The power of memory is an important theme in these chapters. First, the reader is given a small glimpse into the internal world of Bartleby Donck. To the children he is a peculiar man who may or may not actually be of any help. However, Donck is a serious man. When he leaves his flat for the restaurant, he is plagued with personal doubt. He worries that despite his best effort, he will never be able to help all the children who come to him in need. The solemn walk triggers in him a painful memory, one that further intensifies his feelings of inadequacy. He was once a man in love with a beautiful woman, yet because of their unequal social status, they were not allowed to marry. This explains why Donck has lived a solitary life. The loss of his one, true love left him wounded. Willa’s flashback is painful as well. She seems sad and troubled looking at the family photo. She repeatedly asks Maks if it is okay for her to live with his family. Willa ponders the meaning of “home.”

These chapters highlight a pivotal moment in the relationship between Maks and Willa. Until the scene in the bar, she has been reticent to reveal anything about her family and her past. The full story is revealed in the earlier flashback, but it is important she tell Maks the truth if they are to be friends. She needs to establish trust with him to continue the journey to help free Emma and join the Geless family. The small tin box and doll are symbols of her past. However, they do not entirely invoke happy memories. Willa loves her mom, and the doll represents a time when Willa could truly be a child before illness and tragedy struck. The family photo, though, indicates that her childhood was not idyllic. Her father appears to have been an unhappy man, even before being left to tend to Willa on his own. Although the acceptance of her by the Geless family is a fortuitous and joyful event, Willa cannot separate herself from the past. She carries the doll and tin with her into her new life as an important reminder of her identity, mirroring the Geless family’s insistence on clinging to parts of their Danish heritage despite living and working in American culture. One of the few joys immigrant families can retain is a connection to their homeland and heritage. The moment when Papa tells Willa she can now call him her father is a tender moment in the narrative. Papa is a sensitive man, and the reader may feel frustrated with his inability to make decisions in helping Emma; however, it is clear that he does not embody the traditional American role of a strong, stoic male head of household. In becoming Willa’s surrogate father, he can help to heal the wounds of abandonment and fear that have gripped her for months. Papa may not be unshakable in the face of trials, but he is safe.

The rooftop scene takes the narrative to a new place both physically and symbolically as the children see the city and their life in a new way. Maks reveals this place to Willa as somewhere he can go to escape the claustrophobia of his flat and the chaos of the city below. It is a place to dream, something a child in his situation rarely has time to do but that is important for him. Maks is calmed by the presence of the pigeons, which have the freedom to fly away but always return home. His wish to fly above the city symbolized his yearning to rise above the poverty and discrimination he faces in everyday life. He offers to take Willa, too, both fantasizing about a new life outside of the current maze of anxiety and strife in which they find themselves. Children play make-believe, inventing fantasy worlds of adventure to try out being an adult and test the bounds of reality. Imaginative play is crucial for proper development later in life. The sorrowful scene shows two children engaged not in playtime but in a momentary escape from the fight for survival. Willa is so simultaneously exhausted from the day’s events and calmed by the rooftop respite that she falls asleep peacefully, still clutching her precious doll. Here two children hold on to what remnants of innocence remain while grappling with the struggles still to come. It is perhaps too late for Agnes, a child forced to grow up too soon. With her consumption worsening each day, she is losing her childhood.