I Am David summary
David is a 12 year old boy. He has lived all his life in a concentration camp somewhere in Eastern Europe. He does not know anything about his parents or where he comes from, or why he is in the camp. All he knows is that he is David. One day, without any explanation, a guard arranges for him to escape. The electric current is switched off from the perimeter fence for half a minute, just long enough for David to climb over. He is given bread and water and a compass. He is told to head south for Salonica, stow away on a ship sailing to Italy, and then walk north until he comes to a country called Denmark. And that is what David does.
Now, what kind of person would you be if you had spent all your life in a concentration camp? The first thing you may notice about David is his extraordinary isolation. He has survived in the camp by never allowing himself to think further than the next meal. After the death of his friend and teacher, Johannes, he never permits himself to have any affection for anyone. Out of the camp and on the run he believes, not unreasonably, that 'they' are after him. Of all the people that he meets on his long journey, he doesn't feel able to trust anyone. And so he shoulders the burden of the journey alone. Consequently, of course, all the judgments he makes about other people and their actions, and his own actions, are governed entirely by his own moral standards.
He has very high moral standards. For instance, he refuses to accept payment for a small service that he renders voluntarily to a stranger. For him, I think, to chose to observe high moral standards is a symbol of his new-found liberty. And should anyone fall below his own exacting standards he is an unforgiving opponent:
But as David journeys across Europe he begins to comprehend that he cannot live life entirely alone. He does need other people, Maria, whom he saves from the fire, and the dog, and perhaps a mother of his own ... And it works the other way round - other people may need things from him. It is not good enough for David simply to hate evil when he finds it in others. If others say they are sorry for their evil acts then he must also learn to forgive, because relentless unforgiving is another kind of cruelty.