Even though Elisha claims to have lost his religious faith during the war, he still hangs onto a shred of the innocence of his religious childhood—he keeps looking for the legendary little boy in the sky, even though he’s repeatedly disappointed. In Elisha, Catherine seems to see the innocence of the little boy in the rabbi’s story. The exclamation of “Poor boy!” and the presence of a little boy will crop up again in the story, which is perhaps another reminder that the past deeply affects the present.