"The informer, another girl in my class, whispered that it was Svetlana who envied me - not my 'fairy tale' past but, of all things, my braids, my less than shining-clean long braids... I kept the secret but I began my campaign to have my braids cut off. The direct approach didn't work... The next evening Mother told me curtly that she was going to cut my hair, but it was because there was no soap and for no other reason, certainly not because I wanted to look like everyone else... Now I had a best friend."
~From, "The Endless Steppe", by Esther Hautzig
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I love in this passage how Esther, who's point of view the story is being told from, is willing to give up her prized possessions, her braids, in order to have a best friend. She was really anxious and desperate! Before this point, Svetlana has totally ignored her, yet she is nice to other children who are poorer than Esther. How she longed for Svetlana's friendship! So when an answer to her predicament arises, she carries out the act without hesitation, even though it means chopping her beautiful braids off from around her head. But in the end, she is finally blessed with a best friend! I'd like to point out, though, that Esther only cut her braids when she realized they were setting her apart from Svetlana and the others. She did it so the other girls wouldn't covet her - her heart was to not make the other girls feel inferior.
~From, "The Endless Steppe", by Esther Hautzig
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I love in this passage how Esther, who's point of view the story is being told from, is willing to give up her prized possessions, her braids, in order to have a best friend. She was really anxious and desperate! Before this point, Svetlana has totally ignored her, yet she is nice to other children who are poorer than Esther. How she longed for Svetlana's friendship! So when an answer to her predicament arises, she carries out the act without hesitation, even though it means chopping her beautiful braids off from around her head. But in the end, she is finally blessed with a best friend! I'd like to point out, though, that Esther only cut her braids when she realized they were setting her apart from Svetlana and the others. She did it so the other girls wouldn't covet her - her heart was to not make the other girls feel inferior.
