Quote: ” ‘Michael, it’s terrible to say so, but sometimes you have to weigh the cost of one man’s life against the value of an entire operation.’ ”

Michael tells his parents he has discovered a Jewish pilot who crashed his plane into a barn on a farm in Nazi Germany. He wants to rescue him, but it is incredibly dangerous. The quote is significant since it shows the terrible choices and sacrifices people were faced with during World War II. It also describes a situation that many people probably found themselves in during this time. It adds a sense of bitterness and melancholy to the literature, and it makes the reader feel like they themselves are having to choose one person’s life over another. Having to sacrifice a life is always a tragic decision for anyone, and in Nazi Germany, many people had to deal with these types of decisions regularly. This quote stood out to me since it shows one of the internal conflicts that Michael, the main character in the book, is going through. In the story, people were suspicious of Michael and thought that he might be a spy. They could turn him in at any moment, so he was always in a risky position. Michael struggles with this because he knows if the pilot gets caught, he will be sent to a concentration camp. The quote foreshadows what is likely to happen to the pilot, and that Micheal is probably going to choose the operation over the man’s life. This quote connects with the larger theme of sacrifice and how people are forced to make terrible sacrifices in times of war. Sacrifices are very hard to go through with especially in times like these. However, in times of war, if it is for the greater good, it has to be done.