42 pages • 1 hour read
Heda Margolius KovályUnder A Cruel Star: A Life In Prague, 1941-1968
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1973A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Birds
Heda is drawn to the movement of birds and the freedom inherent in their movements. They fly over the concentration camp with ease, and the idea of birds surfaces many times throughout the memoir. Though she often cannot experience this herself, she can witness it in the form of a bird moving through the sky, and learns she can take part in said freedom in some way, even just as a witness.
The Forest
Heda finds comfort in the natural world. She places such importance on it that she insists on taking Ivan to the forest, so that he too can feel this comfort. The forest is also the place Heda makes her way through when escaping from the Nazis. She attempts to escape Czechoslovakia through the forest before she is turned back. Broadly, the forest serves as border, a space that is alive with possibility and largely absent of human intervention.
Springtime
Many important events happen to both Heda and the country of Czechoslovakia during springtime. Heda first meets Rudolf when she is twelve years old on a beautiful spring day. She escapes the concentration camp and arrives in Prague as spring is beginning. The riots in 1968 also take place in the spring.
