In The Cage, by Ruth Minsky Sender, a poignant tone is created through the uses of sympathy, narration and control. A poignant tone means that a characters, or person’s emotions are affected strongly by something. The Cage is about a young girl and her brothers whose lives are destabilized when their mother is taken from them by the Nazis during the Holocaust. The siblings must learn to live on their own and make their own decisions through the hardest time in their lives. The wide use of sympathy in Senders book helps create the poignant tone. The main character, Riva Minska, and her brothers, Laibele, Moishele, and Motele are all only in their teen years when the Holocaust happens in Germany. Their mother was deported because the Nazis …show more content…
Riva and her family are discriminated against throughout the entire book. The siblings feel cheated on, and wonder why did the world turn on them. When Riva, Motele, Moishele, and a few other neighbors and friends leave the ghetto, they are sent to the concentration camp in Auschwitz. Riva can not believe how all the Jews are treated. She thinks, “Only one week ago I came to this hell in a cattle car, but I was in the train with my brothers. I still had hope. I still could feel the warm touch of their hands in the darkness of our prison. Now I am all alone. No mother. No brothers. No family. Where are they? Will I ever see them again?”(169). Riva feels so alone and does not know what to do without her family. She is deeply affected by being seperated from them, and not knowing if she will ever see them again; however, there are some instances in Riva’s story where she has hope again after losing her brothers in the camps. Riva is infected with lead poisoning, and to her surprise, the Commandment lets Riva be taken to a hospital far away from the camp. When she is in recovery, so many non-jewish girls help Riva in gaining her strength back. She cannot believe someone would help her. Riva thought her life was going to end so many times, but she made it through the