Summer of My German Soldier

The hideaway above Patty’s parents’ garage symbolizes Patty’s desire for a home and reflects the theme of Physical Versus Emotional Deprivation. While her grandparents’ house does feel like home, it is a trip away in Memphis, and she cannot visit often. Patty sets out, then, to create her own home that is near enough to her parents’ house that she can access it regularly. The room above her parents’ garage is precarious to reach because the stairs have been removed by Patty’s father so that no one can access the space and squat there. This makes the space ideal for Patty, who does not want anyone else in her hideaway. Cleaning and decorating the hideaway so that she has a comfortable place to keep her precious possessions, such as her books, and also a space where she can feel safe, is one of Patty’s tasks for the summer.

This home away from her parents’ house is also symbolic because it becomes a sanctuary for Anton. While hiding Anton is risky, Patty loves sharing her hideaway with someone for whom she feels such deep respect and love. The hideaway becomes a place where they can both come together, away from outside forces that do not recognize their uniqueness and, to varying degrees, tries to destroy them. The hideaway symbolizes not just a retreat from the world, then, but a world that Patty and Anton create together in their love for one another.

Patty’s wavy, auburn hair is a symbol of Patty’s unique beauty as a person, a beauty that her mother does not recognize. Her mother seeks to transform Patty’s hair, as well as Patty herself, into something more conventional and manageable, through the motif of perming her hair.

Patty’s hair is very different from her mother’s slick, controlled black hair, just as Patty, as a person, is very different from her mother: Her mother sees Patty and her hair as nuisances to be controlled. She is constantly scolding Patty for not combing her hair back and pulling it out of her face. She forces Patty to undergo permanent waves that Patty hates, even after Patty begs her mother not to make her endure perming, which requires that she sit for hours under the heat of chemical processing. The result of perming is tight, frizzy curls that Patty hates. At the reform school, Patty no longer has to undergo these treatments, and this symbolizes her process of shedding the influence of her parents and coming into her own as an individual.