In her memoir, In My Hands, Irene Gut Opdyke initially uses the motif of birds for dreaming and escaping daily life. During the war, the motifs start to get darker and we get a better idea of what they start to mean. She uses different motifs of birds to show how she uses birds to represent different events that had happened in her life, both traumatic and good. The importance of needing to accept help is shown throughout the entire book. Irene throughout most of the book tries to help others while trying to accept it for herself. Accepting help from others is a way to be able to do more for yourself, and others.
When the story was first being told, Irene Gut Opkdyke was mainly using her motifs to represent certain events in her life that were tragic and traumatizing. Irene uses the motif of birds to mask certain events that happened to people to make it seem like it happened to a bird instead.
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Although she is helping others, she had to accept help herself to be able to do this. “Then she brushed my hair back from my face and took my wrist to check my pulse, murmuring a word that sounded like “bird.” I closed my eyes, grateful for the kindness.” Page 37. This quote shows how people offered her help when she needed it. The doctor helped her escape and make sure she was okay and safe. If he didn’t, Irene could have been abused or killed by bad people. Later in the book, while Irene is in the process of helping others and saving lives, she also says “I have seen nightmares take place on beautiful spring days. The birds can hop from one branch to another, tipping their heads and honing their small beaks against the bark while a child dies in the mud below.” Page 112. This quote shows that she can't save everyone even though she wants to. Compared to the start of the book, she is accepting help to survive. Later in the story, she is offering help to others, trying to save