"The Story of My Dovecot" is about the loss of innocence. Young Isaac is initially full of hopes and dreams. He is excited to do well in school and to have his own dovecot. The dovecot symbolizes the boy's dreams of peace, wonder, and beauty. However, his dreams and innocence are shattered along with the death of his birds in the pogrom.

This experience leaves him traumatized and disillusioned. Isaac now realizes that the world is violent and dangerous, and what mattered to him before is no longer important. Isaac describes his exact moment of disillusionment while lying on the ground after being attacked by Makarenko, his supposed friend.

My world was tiny, and it was awful. I closed my eyes so as not to see it, and pressed myself tight into the ground that lay beneath me in soothing dumbness. This trampled earth in no way resembled real life, waiting for exams in real life.

For a moment, Isaac is caught between what he had thought was "real life" and the actual reality of his situation. He knows that his perspective of the world will forever be changed and that what was important to him before — academics and pigeons — no longer truly matters in the face of such violence and persecution.

He gets up and starts "weeping bitterly, full and happily as I never wept again in all my life." Here, "happily" does not refer to joy but to his realization that his illusions of innocence have been destroyed forever.

The pogrom that destroys the boy's birds is a violent and traumatic event that carries lasting effects. Set in the context of violent upheavals, this story explores the violence of history and the impact it can have on individuals and communities.

With Isaac as a witness to the violence of the pogrom, the reader can guess just how deeply he is affected by it. He sees death and destruction carried out by his neighbors. The violence of the pogrom leaves him with a deep sense of fear and distrust. Isaac was undoubtedly aware of anti-semitic sentiments before this, but hearing his neighbors shout abuses and experiencing their anger shows just how deep their hate goes.

Their spawn must be wiped out… I can't a-bear their spawn, nor their stinking menfolk.

The story is set in a time and place where violence is commonplace. The pogrom is just one example of the violence the boy and his community experience. With this story, Babel suggests that violence is a part of history and that even peaceful people cannot avoid its impact.

Isaac loves stories. Shoyl, often dismissed as "an old ignoramus and a simple-minded liar," tells all sorts of tall tales that entertain Isaac. Even though his stories are often overblown fiction, Isaac still appreciates them and finds them entertaining.

…his cock-and-bull stories I have never forgotten: they were good stories.

As the narrator and the personification of this story's author, Isaac is also a storyteller. Like the character of Shoyl, Babel would often invent details to tell a more compelling story about his own life. To him, communicating the story's spirit was more important than staying perfectly faithful to the details.

For Babel, stories are a way to preserve history, pass on important lessons to future generations, and comment on the present. Even though this short story focuses on the experiences of just a single person, it educates the reader about more significant historical events and concepts. The story of the pogrom is a reminder of the violence and intolerance that can exist in the world, and it also speaks to the resilience of the human spirit to adapt to and withstand them.