City of Orphans

The return of Maks and Willa after the fire provides another scene of familial love and comfort. Avi uses these moments in the flat to reiterate the power of family and connection. No matter what the children face on the streets, they are always safe at home. On the streets, children are left to fend for themselves in all sorts of harrowing and dangerous situations, yet the Gelesses treasure their children and desire to keep them safe. Willa is wholly part of the family now and welcomed as such. However, the domestic tranquility is still overridden by anxiety for Emma. Willa and Maks are once again home safely, but Emma remains in prison with her trial looming.

These chapters portray Willa at her most vulnerable and raw. Throughout her time on the street, the one thought that brought her at least a shred of comfort was that her father had died, not abandoned her. To learn the truth is excruciating. She struggles to even find the words to process the revelation. Willa had hinted before that her father was not a good man, but this information solidifies what she likely already knew in her heart. He is a hateful man with no care or concern for others. This scene is yet another opportunity for Maks to console her in her grief. Willa has few memories of the tender care of her mother, but Maks’s attention to her trauma and pain recalls the sense of safety and love she gave her. It was Willa who saved Maks from Bruno’s beating, but Maks has saved Willa from falling into despair. Yet he is torn about taking her to the Waldorf to confront her father. He knows it will end badly, but Willa needs closure to move forward in her new life as a part of the Geless family. Maks’s reminder that her home is with them now serves as a protection for whatever may transpire in the meeting. Humans have a fundamental need for belonging, and Maks affirms that truth here in reminding Willa of her security in the Geless home.

The novel reaches its climax in the convergence of Willa and Maks, Brunswick, and Bruno at the Waldorf. Two children are seeking Brunswick but for different reasons. Willa needs answers for his estrangement, and Bruno wants justice and freedom from his servitude. At key moments in the text, Papa or the narrator has mentioned how life just keeps going despite the pain and suffering all around. In this tragic moment, the bystanders cannot look away from the scene in front of them. They may have been sheltered in their fancy hotel from seeing the misery of impoverished citizens, but it has now landed inside their fortress, and they are forced to look upon the ordeal. Willa holding her dead father’s hand as her chance at closure slips away paired with the tragedy of Bruno’s slaughter creates a scene of woe and regret. If only someone had intervened in these children’s lives at some point, this calamity could have been avoided. Now Packwood is left to deal with not only two dead bodies in his lobby, one of which is a child, but also the stolen watch lying on the floor. The mystery has been solved, but the question of justice being served is still hanging in the air.