A Long Long Time Ago And Essentially True

Multiple characters in the novel carry secret sorrows that they share with no one. These sad stories symbolize the denied aspects of the self and relate to the theme of Transcending the Past. Anielica tells Beata that she doesn’t want to burden her granddaughter with depressing narratives. In reality, she can’t stand to relive the trauma herself. When Anielica has a sexual tryst with a secret policeman to save her husband, immediately afterward she represses all memory of the incident: “In the New Poland, there was survival for the ones who could stuff themselves down into the deepest part of themselves, who could lock the room of their conscience behind them” (287).

When Czesław disappears, Anielica tells everyone that he must be dead. However, she learns that he’s alive in the US, and she saves every one of his letters, concealing them inside the bindings of her banned book collection. In addition, she tells Beata that the stain on the kitchen floor is from a spilled bowl of beet soup rather than the blood of the Nazi officer whom Czesław killed. Anielica carries all these sad stories to her grave, but Irena embraces a better option: She chooses to confide in Beata about her dismal marriage and her dead ex-husband, rather than telling her own daughter. After sharing the sad stories that immobilized her, she’s finally able to get beyond her past and move forward with her life.