The True Story of Hansel and Gretel

When Magda delivers her final statement on what matters in life, she ties love and memory together: “We can never let the world take our memories of love away, and if there are no memories, we must invent love all over again” (297). Though Magda has seen tragedy and bears the weight of brutal memories, she concludes that humankind cannot afford to forget if it means losing love. As she narrates the story of Hansel and Gretel, Magda continually emphasizes the power and danger of memories.

Gretel’s relationship to memory is the most complex in the novel. Before her rape, she shares bittersweet memories of life before the ghetto with Hansel, who was too young to remember that existence. The memories, as Magda says later, are a “gift” because they convey love and truth (297). Although he is only 7 years old, Hansel recognizes the value of his sister’s gift: “If Gretel forgot, he wasn’t sure if he’d remember. She was the one who knew things” (147). But Gretel’s rape changes the range of memories to which her mind has access and the ways that she accesses them. She “began to remember things from the past, the distant past” just after her violation, “but all the last months and hours were blank except for the names of Magda and Hansel” (134).