I Never Saw Another Butterfly Analysis

“That butterfly was the last one. Butterflies don’t live in here, In the ghetto”. Celeste Raspanti’s play I Never Saw Another Butterfly is based on a collection of poetry, drawings, and art made by Jewish children while living in Jewish concentration camps. Based on a true story, the play is centered around Raja Englanderova and her life living in Terezin during the Holocaust. Life within the walls of Terezin was not the easiest, but shimmers of hope seem to shine through those cracked and cold walls. On February 27, 2016, I attended Campbell University’s Theater Production of I Never Saw Another Butterfly. As the lights dimmed, a young girl with dark brown hair appears on stage and announces her name is Raja Englanderova and that she was born in Prague. The performance follows Raja’s life in the
Hana Volavkova is the author of the collection of poems, drawings, and art made by those Jewish children staying in Terezin. The performance brought those poems and pictures to life. It may have seemed that Raja’s life was sad, poor, and dark, yet the performance seemed to shine light on the relationships she created that eventually leads to her survival. As the book focuses on the children and their poetry, drawings, and art, the performance also made the children the main focus along with the relationships within the walls. They made the short lives of those children fuller by acting out the love and laughter between one another. The book full of children’s memories are still fresh because those memories are displayed on stage with wet tears, tight hugs, and soft kisses. Relationships are demonstrated in both the book and the performance and lead to at least one survival. Due to the love and relationships created among the children of Terezin, Raja Englanderova lived and told her story that existed from within those