Then

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes depictions of antisemitic discrimination, violence, genocide in the context of World War II, and death by suicide, which feature in the source text.

Zelda has a silver locket that contains portraits of her mother and father, who were Polish Nazi sympathizers. The locket becomes a very versatile symbol, representing very different things for Zelda and for Felix. For Zelda, it is a symbol of guilt. In Once and Then, Zelda has seen again and again the cruelty of the Nazis toward Jews, including Felix, whom she regards as family. This experience results in a severe feeling of cognitive dissonance for Zelda. Because she is a child, she loves her parents, but her parents are people who would harm Felix. She does not wish to be associated with Nazis in any way, and so she rejects the locket—symbolically rejecting her parents and their Nazi associations. Felix, on the other hand, sees the locket as a symbol of safety for Zelda; it is the only proof she has that she is not Jewish. When Cyryl tries to show Nazi soldiers that Felix is Jewish, Felix shows the soldiers the locket, claiming that Zelda’s parents are also his.