69 pages • 2 hours read
Uprising
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Themes
Personal Growth in Extreme Hardship
Content Warning: This section discusses wartime violence, the Holocaust and antisemitism, and death.
As a bildungsroman, Uprising explores the growth and development of Lidia as she matures throughout the novel and learns to live in a city decimated by Nazi occupation. As the protagonist and a dynamic character, Lidia experiences major internal changes throughout the text, which reflects her personal growth.
At the novel’s start, the author portrays Lidia as headstrong and immature. She angrily plays the piano in defiance of her mother and fails to grasp the severity of the war. When she and Papa check on the house during the Siege of Warsaw, she plays her piano, earning an angry rebuke from her father for alerting the neighbors to their location. He warns her, “Things have changed, Lidia, and you must change too. You must be smart in everything you do. You must be careful at all times, because a single mistake will carry a high price” (22). The next time she goes into the house with Ryszard, she remembers her father’s warning; she does not play the piano and promises herself that she “w[ill] not make a single mistake” going forward (32). From that point on, Lidia begins to change, learning the dangers of living under Nazi rule. She stays out of the way of the Nazi soldiers—even holding Ryszard back the first time he talks back to Officer Schubert—learns to listen to them discreetly to gather information, and recognizes the importance of helping the Jewish people as the Nazis collect and force them into the ghetto. As Lidia begins to fight in the resistance, with Stefan’s help, she hones her skills. She changes from an immature young girl whose life revolves around the piano into one who abandons her old life to become a skilled messenger and key component of the resistance movement. Because of the dangerous situation and the extreme hardships that Lidia undergoes, she has an unconventional childhood, but she learns the importance of compassion, helping others, and resilience.
Lidia’s relationship with Mama is also a key component of her character development. Throughout much of the novel, Lidia and Mama have a strained relationship; both openly acknowledge that Mama loved her other daughter, Krystyna, who died at the age of two, more than she loves Lidia. As a result, after Lidia loses Ryszard and Papa, she throws herself into the resistance movement—unconcerned with her safety since she feels as though sacrificing her life is worth it to help others. After learning of Ryszard’s death, she immediately demands another mission, noting how all she has left in her life is to make Ryszard “proud” of her. However, after she and Mama mend their relationship, Lidia feels like she has something to live for again. Although she continues to fight in the resistance, she thinks of how, now, she has “hope” that she will “make it to Sweden one day to find [Mama] again” (318). The rekindling of their relationship is an important change for Lidia, not only in the way that it mends her relationship with her family but also in that it gives her hope and a reason to survive the war.
Faced with Nazi occupation, death, and the ultimate destruction of their city, Lidia changes in many ways during the five years of the novel. She grows more intelligent, more skilled in her work as a messenger, more mature, and more aware of the unfairness of the world around her. She takes her strong-willed and defiant personality and puts it to use in the war occupation, ultimately becoming a key player in the Warsaw Uprising.
The Importance of Family, Friendship, and Community
As the citizens of Warsaw fight back against Nazi occupation, it becomes clear how important it is to have support from others in their fight for survival. When Lidia and her family retreat to their basement during the Siege of Warsaw, their old maid, Doda, comes with her mother to seek shelter as Jewish citizens fearing Nazi occupation. Although Mama initially resists, Lidia intervenes, insisting that they “have plenty of blankets” and can find more food (35). In this way, Lidia and her family become crucial to Doda and Bubbe’s survival, sheltering them throughout the bombing and then later protecting them for as long as they can from being taken by the Nazis. In turn, Doda returns the favor, allowing Lidia and her family to come live in her apartment after the Germans occupy their home. The relationship between Lidia, her family, Doda, and Bubbe is a critical element of this theme, as they all support each other to survive the early days of the war.
Another important friendship that Lidia develops in the novel is with a young girl, Maryna. As Lidia struggles to find meaning in Nazi-occupied Poland—without her piano, without school, and feeling helpless after seeing the Nazis force Jewish citizens into camps—she meets Maryna, who is as intelligent and strong-willed as she is. Together, the two of them concoct ways to deliver food and supplies to those in the ghetto, doing what they can to help in the resistance against German occupation. Maryna also introduces Lidia to a secret school; this allows Lidia to continue her education, which, her old headmaster notes, “is strength; it is power” (49). This friendship gives Lidia the purpose, support, and strength to fight back against the Nazis.
The most critical component that reflects the importance of community is the resistance movement that Lidia joins. Alone, Lidia and Maryna become overwhelmed with fear and stop providing what little support they offer to the Jewish people. However, once Lidia meets the other members of the resistance, including Stefan, Drill, Halama, Arrow, and others, she realizes the true strength of the Polish people as they work together against the Germans. They can orchestrate the Warsaw Uprising—the biggest military effort by any resistance movement in Europe during World War II. Although the uprising ultimately fails, Germany maintains control of Poland, and hundreds of thousands of citizens flee the city, Lidia and the other resistance fighters stand up for their country and the treatment of its citizens. They resist the Nazis in a structured, systematic fight made possible by their work together.
Self-Sacrifice and Resilience Against Genocidal Violence
The conflict between Lidia and Mama, as Mama initially remains indifferent to the Nazi occupation, conveys the importance of resisting violence to help others. Even if Mama feels as though the occupation does not affect her directly—and, therefore, she can ignore it—Lidia recognizes early on that she needs to fight back, as it is only a matter of time before that violence affects her family. Lidia acknowledges that while helping the Jewish people, she is “having the constant debate between doing what [she] kn[ows] [i]s right and doing what [she] kn[ows] [i]s safe, because [she] c[a]n’t have both” (98). Her internal conflict and her ideals that conflict with Mama establish Lidia’s investment in stopping genocidal violence. She realizes that even though this violence is not directed at her, it is important to fight against it to aid Jewish citizens amid Nazi persecution and stop the spread of that violence further. When Lidia meets Halama, she expresses these views during their dinner. He argues against helping the Jewish people, pointing out its futility, largely as a way to gauge Lidia’s opinion on the subject. She responds that, despite the risk of death, fighting for the Jewish people is important because they are Polish and because it is for “the gain of [their] souls” (157). She understands that compassion and self-sacrifice for the Jewish people are important for their humanity.
When Lidia finally joins the organized resistance, she meets several people who share the same view as her and are willing to sacrifice their lives to overthrow the Nazi occupation. She sees Halama sacrifice his life, throwing himself on a fallen grenade to save those around him; Weasel runs out into the street, cutting a wire on a Goliath despite the risk involved; Drill sacrifices himself to distract the soldiers so that Lidia, Maryna, and Weasel can escape; and thousands of resistance fighters go up against the Nazi army to hold them off for as long as they can. Even though Germany has more soldiers, better weapons, and more supplies, the Polish Underground Army fights back for two months, proving their resilience as they orchestrate a collective resistance.
Additionally, the Allied soldiers’ unwillingness to come to the aid of the Polish people adds another component to their difficulties, forcing the resistance fighters to rely on themselves without outside aid. The uprising movement gains information about the war. For example, they learn that the Allies helped liberate Paris and Great Britain and stormed the beaches of Normandy—gaining ground against the German army and turning the tides in the war. However, the Allies send little help to the Polish Underground Army, as they receive only a few boxes of supplies. As Arrow explains how desperate their situation is to Lidia, she insists that they “keep fighting […] until there’s nothing left for [them] to do” (308). Faced with genocidal violence, little help from the outside, and a stronger German army, the resistance fighters do not even consider surrendering. They know that it will only leave them at the mercy of the Nazis. Instead, they prove their resilience, continuing to fight back for Poland’s freedom and against the persecution of Jewish citizens.
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