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For a moment, to Annemarie, listening, it seemed like all the earlier times, the happy visits to the farm in the past with summer daylight extending beyond bedtime, with the children tucked away in the bedrooms and the grownups downstairs talking.

Annemarie has a great sense of nostalgia for the past. Though she is only ten years old, her memories are a source of pleasure and comfort to her. Frequently, Annemarie looks to the happier days of the past with a feeling of regret. She has particularly strong memories about the house by the ocean where her mother grew up and where she spent summers. As Annemarie listens to her mother and uncle talking, she is reminded of what if felt like before the war. The long days of light give the impression of safety. The distinction between the children "tucked away" and the adults downstairs is clearly cut and makes Annemarie feel secure in the knowledge that children exist on one side, grownups exist on the other. This is a division that Annemarie cannot make anymore. The impression of safety in her image of the past also comes from the easily drawn separation between the adults and the children. Now things are not as simple. Annemarie has trouble knowing which group she belongs in. The security of the past has dissipated.

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