The Ark is a story of how one family managed to survive when their home, possessions, father, and one son were swept away during World War II. As all those chosen by Noah to come into the ark survived, so this story shows that life can be ongoing despite floods and wars, or holocaustal conditions. (p. 108)

The tragic moments of the story are the times when Margret faces the loss of something or someone she loves. The first tragedy is conveyed in retrospect, a device that helps to cushion the sorrow the reader must feel in learning of the loss of Margret's happy home and the death of her twin brother…. One day she meets an old woman who has lost an only son in the war. Mari has found a way to cope with her sorrow and shares her illumination with the refugee girl. "When what you love best departs, there's a long time afterward when you're never at home anywhere. But wait, the dead come back. They come to life again within us; we have only to have patience and let it happen."… (pp. 108-09)

The old woman tells Margret that some people learn to remember differently, whereas others must forget. But she says that remembering is the best medicine. And so Mari states the story's theme, which the girl finds to be the means of coping with the problems war has brought into her experience, and her former happiness does have an inner rebirth.

The second tragic moment happens on the farm where Margret is taking care of the livestock…. One dog with tortured, pleading eyes drags herself to the girl and dies with her head on Margret's lap. The helplessness of having done all one can without avail wells up in Margret, and in her sorrow she remembers the refugee mothers and fathers who carry their dead children on their backs for many miles, clinging to this last presence of a dear one for whom no more can be done. Thus the girl understands and gains compassion for others through her own tragic experience. Going later into the barn, however, she finds that the mare has given birth to a beautiful colt, and deeply stirred, Margret whispers, "life!" In her moment of sorrow she has tasted the bitterness of death and now experiences the joy of new birth, feeling something of the reciprocal quality of the two emotions, the latter made richer by the former.

A third moment of tragedy comes with the news of the death of Mrs. Verduz, the woman with whom the family first found refuge…. As in the second tragic instance, however, the death of the kind landlady is more than balanced by the homecoming of their father. (p. 109)

At the conclusion of the story, the family has found a new way of life that approximates the old. It is bittersweet because it is touched with the remembrance of people and objects no longer present, but it is a life enriched by suffering, resulting in a more comprehensive compassion for the troubles of humanity. The catharsis conveyed by the story is this clarification the family receives concerning life's ongoingness despite devastating conditions.

But the story is always tragedy, although it contains an affirmative outlook. There is no substitute for Margret's twin brother. What she finds is that a void created by death can be filled, but that part of the new is made more beautiful by remembrance of the old.

The story's message is emotionally touching and satisfying as well as realistic. There is no need for the construction of a fairy-tale approach to life. Comfort comes from looking deep, rather than turning aside, and, as the old woman told Margret, this kind of remembrance is the best medicine.

The author is able to create moods and atmospheres successfully. The wind-blown icy night with its desolate streets symbolizes cold despair at the outset of the story. The warmth and peace of life on the farm with father, war-scarred but present among them in The Ark, seems symbolic of the peace Margret and her family have found after the suffering of the war years. (pp. 109-10)