Summer of My German Soldier

The novel follows Patty from her experience of alienation to attempted independence. While her independence involves breaking free from her family, it is also about Patty discovering her self-worth, whether she returns to her family or not.

Patty experiences alienation in her life on various levels. First, she is alienated from people in Jenkinsville because she and her family are Jewish. As a result, they do not have a congregation with which to worship and must go to Memphis to be part of a Jewish community. Even in this congregation, though, Patty feels alienated, as she is not from Memphis. Her father, too, suffers from this alienation, as he is denied WWII gasoline vouchers for traveling to Memphis to worship.

The isolation that comes from being Jewish in a Christian landscape carries over to social contexts beyond worship. For example, most of the children Patty knows go to the Baptist summer camp in the Ozarks, but she is not allowed to go, despite pleading with her mother. She is not barred from the camp because of her Jewishness, but her mother does not want her to be culturally or religiously influenced away from Judaism. This means that Patty does not have the same social opportunities to form relationships. She feels stuck during the novel’s titular summer because she is stuck in Jenkinsville, denied even the possibility of socializing with most of her peers.

More profoundly, Patty is isolated within her family. Unlike her little sister, Sharon, she is not considered pretty, nor is she happy-go-lucky, qualities that both her parents admire and that make Sharon easily likeable. Patty, alternatively, asks questions that annoy her parents, and she is inconveniently and radically thoughtful. She dares to question moral standards and other cultural norms that most people take for granted. Both her parents are cold toward her, either criticizing her constantly, as her mother does, or beating her constantly, as her father does. Her father even claims that her very existence—not these personality traits—has caused him “misery” since she was born. As a result of this abuse, Patty becomes alienated from herself and her own intrinsic value as a person.

The relationships that Patty does form are with Ruth and Anton. Freddy is also an ally and genuinely seems to like being with Patty. Her father uses these relationships, especially with Anton and Freddy, as reasons to beat her. Her relationship with Ruth is merely tolerated by her parents, as they do not want to lose their good cook and housekeeper. Ruth, Anton, and Freddy are all outsiders in their own ways. This shows that Patty finds community with other outsiders—those whom society deems different or lacking in some way. Ironically, neither Ruth, nor Anton, nor Freddy is judgmental of others. They are content with being themselves, even though they know others won’t always accept them. Thus, they are models for Patty as she learns to live without seeking others’ approval.

Even though Patty loses Anton in the end, the novel’s message is that transformation does not happen in a vacuum. The process of moving toward independence occurs with others’ support, such as Ruth, who is Patty’s “life raft.” Patty recognizes, though, that she must swim to shore on her own; Ruth can only take her so far. Part of learning to swim is recognizing the limitations and cruelty of her parents and no longer seeking love from them, but instead cultivating a relationship of love with herself, taking to heart the lesson of the ring to recognize herself as a person of value.