Summer of My German Soldier

Ruth is the Bergens’ African American housekeeper. She feels a special kinship with Patty and loves her as a daughter. However, Ruth is unable to create a safe environment for Patty in her parents’ house. Her power to protect Patty is tenuous, as seen when Patty’s father fires Ruth after she steps in when he is verbally abusing Patty.

Ruth is Christian and often refers to Biblical stories. Her Christianity does not alienate Patty, however, who is already isolated by being one of the few Jews in Jenkinsville. Ruth refers to the Bible to help her interpret relationships and events around her. When Anton risks his life by rushing out of the hideout after witnessing Patty being beaten by her father, Ruth concludes: “Like the Bible tells us, when a man will lay down his life for a friend, well, then there ain’t no greater love in this here world than that” (130). Her referencing of the Bible helps her to see the love that exists between Patty and Anton in the midst of the complicated context of Patty’s helping him escape.

As opposed to Patty’s mother, who is superficial and controlling, Ruth has a deep understanding of both love and hate. She is a proud woman, wearing her Sunday dress to walk back and forth to work every day, explaining to Patty, “[I]t’s me shouting out to the world that one of God’s creatures is walking on by” (14). Her dress signifies her divinely given creatureliness and is not a superficial fashion statement. Many of the white people in Jenkinsville refer to this pride as “uppitiness,” as they expect Ruth to be obsequious in front of them and not full of joy that she is God’s creature. She tries to help Patty recognize herself as one of God’s creatures, too, and instill in her a sense of deep pride in the midst of her parents’ abuse.

After Patty is sent to reform school, Ruth is the only person who travels to see her. Patty has forgotten that she gave Ruth Anton’s ring for safekeeping, and Ruth’s returning the ring to her represents that it isn’t too late for Patty to discover her worth. Ruth is reliable throughout the novel, and though she does not change dramatically as a character, she is dynamic in her recognition and cultivation of love.

Anton is a German POW who has an English mother and is being housed at the local German POW camp. Anton’s father is a German professor who was persecuted for criticizing Hitler. Anton despises Hitler, but he is nonetheless a German soldier and is patriotic toward his country.

Anton is educated and bilingual in English. He translates for the POWs and easily moves among different groups of people. Presented through Patty’s first-person point of view, Anton’s specific relation to the German army, in the context of his hatred for Hitler, is unclear. Ironically, Patty is ultimately considered a traitor for helping Anton escape, despite her proclaimed patriotism.

Anton is articulate and enjoys having deep, thoughtful conversations with Patty when she is sheltering him in the hideout. Though Patty is only 12, he takes her seriously as a person. He escapes the camp because he wants his freedom, and he risks his life and dies for this freedom. His insistence on living freely inspires Patty, who feels imprisoned herself by her family and town. Anton helps her to become an independent person by showing her respect and love, ultimately risking his life to try to save her from her father, and insisting that she recognize her individual value.

Harry Bergen is Patty’s father. Unlike his wife, he grew up very poor in Memphis. He has a temper and physically abuses Patty: When he was young, his own father often had to sit him down on the bed and get him to repeat “You will not be violent. You will not be violent!” (32). His repetition of “nobody loves me” after beating Patty is like a child’s lament after they’ve been punished. It seems likely that he was abused as a child, but the text never states this directly. Nonetheless, his feeling of being unloved affects his relationship with Patty and feeds into his abuse.

Harry can be charming and is an attractive man, and Patty notices that women generally like him. Nevertheless, he remains an outsider, both in the town and in his extended family. He resents that his father-in-law did not bring him into his business, but his father-in-law does not like Harry. Patty remarks that her father does not like to feel obligated to or depend on anyone, which she does not understand. Like Patty, Harry longs to be accepted in Jenkinsville. When Patty reveals that she helped Anton escape, he feels betrayed. Her actions secure his marginalization in Jenkinsville, and the family is harassed after Patty is taken to Memphis to await trial.

Anton’s comparison of Harry to Hitler is a strong commentary that people can enact evil regardless of their race, religion, or nationality. The comparison also warns that the only difference between someone like Harry and Hitler is power. Harry implicated the Chinese grocer, Mr. Lee, who was taken to a Japanese American concentration camp, and he regularly disparages African Americans. Harry learns, however, that sharing the dominant population’s prejudices doesn’t secure their approval. In the end, he and his family are forced to leave Jenkinsville. Harry’s misery portends Patty’s future if she continues to seek recognition and love from those who are unable to give it to her.

Pearl is Patty’s mother. She is a flat character who does not change throughout the novel and is another source of Patty’s oppression within the family.

Patty describes her mother as being an extraordinary beauty, with black hair, a high forehead, and a widow’s peak that is an “extra added attraction”: “[M]y mother’s face was an artist’s vision of sensitivity, intelligence, and love” (28). Patty is convinced, too, that the cliché that beauty is only skin deep must be a “big lie,” for “if it weren’t really there, why would it show?” (28). Pearl is the model of external beauty for Patty, but she misreads this superficial beauty as an indicator of kindness and compassion, a reading that Ruth helps her correct.

Pearl is obsessed with maintaining her weight, which Ruth sees as a strange refusal of the reality that she has had two children. Pearl constantly talks about food as if it were an enemy, and she refuses the delicious foods that both Ruth and her mother, the two maternal figures in Patty’s life, prepare as acts of love. Maintaining a beauty that conforms to society’s norms is paramount to Pearl. This is why she praises Sharon, who is conventionally beautiful, while constantly criticizing Patty. The perms she forces Patty to get represent her desire to control her daughter and make her into a socially acceptable image, rather than appreciate Patty for who she is.

Pearl is an excellent salesperson. She has a knack for knowing how to run the store and convince people to buy what they do not need, which Patty sees as a form of manipulation. Rather than being a symbol of nurturing, Pearl is a symbol of starvation; Patty rarely eats at home, as she cannot be nourished by food when she is starved of her mother’s love. By the end of the novel, Patty must learn that Pearl will never love or accept her because she does not fit into Pearl’s narrow value system.

Patty’s maternal grandmother is warm and takes an interest in Patty. She is constantly cooking and makes delicious food for Patty; she is one of the few people who stimulates Patty’s appetite because Patty can feel that her grandmother respects and loves her.

Her grandmother recognizes that Patty’s mother is cold toward Patty and openly disagrees with Pearl, giving Patty money to buy books and arranging for Patty to visit her in Memphis on her own. She takes Patty shopping and out to lunch, splurging on her and making Patty feel special. At the same time, Patty is bitter that her grandmother does not slide fully into the role of surrogate mother; she has her own life and cannot provide Patty with the constant nurturing she craves.

Her grandparents have Patty stay with them while Patty’s trial occurs, and her grandmother remains supportive of her through the trial. Patty never shares her true feeling for Anton with her grandmother, however; their relation is warm, but they do not take risks for one another.