The Last Part of The Lazarus Project

The final bit of reading of The Lazarus Project started off with a particularly brutal section. It talks about Lazarus witnessing a man being brutally killed during the Pogrom. For a boy to witness this kind of brutality is hard to believe, and it goes a long way to show how horrible the pogrom was.

An interesting part occurs later on, where Rora talks about when he saw "a magic carpet flying across the river. It was a blue and white piece of nylon, but still I could not stop seeing it as a magic carpet." (page 253). It's useful to noticed that previously, Lazarus also imagined himself to be on a magic carpet when he was back home as a boy.

I think the magic carpet really symbolizes these struggling people's wishes to be free of their troubles and to just get away. Lazarus, who was an impoverished Jew, wished for the carpet to fly him away to America and a number of other countries. Rora just imagined a piece of Nylon as a flying carpet, a way to get away that the Chetniks would keep shooting down, showing how one's circumstances in the country keep them from getting away from the troubles.

I also found it interesting when Brik talks about his indecisiveness while in the car with Seryozha. He says that if Mary was in the car she would have been sure to do something, but he ended up doing nothing in the situation.

Later, though, Brik does step up and do something. He ends up pummeling Soryozha, breaking his jaw and perhaps even killing him. He says, "I wish Mary could have seen me in that moment, the lethal combination of wrath and good intentions." (page 264) Brik, in this section, reaches his breaking point. He can no longer keep his passive self in the very hostile country and has reached the point in which he can't handle the terrible things going on in the country anymore.

I did find some comfort that Olga decides to help Isador instead of living in total regret over Lazarus. She writes her mother that "I chose life over death. God will take care of the dead. We have to take care of the living" (page 272). Even though Olga will struggle with Lazarus, it's good to see that she can continue to live and help others in bad situations such as Lazarus's.

Finally, it was eye opening to see that Rora's whole story about Miller and Rambo was all made up. I guess when one comes from a very troubled past, it just makes things feel better when your whole past is made up to put you in a better light.