Chapter 16: My First Midnight Mass and Chapter 17: On the Quality of Wall Paint in Eastern Europe Summary and Analysis

Slavenka is taught to be an atheist, like any other good communist child. Her family never celebrates Christmas or Easter. However, sometimes they have a special dinner on those days. She and her brother sometimes receive presents, but they know not to ask why. When her father dies, no priest presides over his funeral. He makes his peace with the Church before he died, however. In 1989, the first public celebration of Christmas in decades is permitted. When his son dies, he wants a religious funeral. Her mother goes to midnight mass for the first time in forty-three years after her husband dies. Slavenka goes with her. The church is packed and...