"Objects of Affection" by Ewa Hryniewicz-Yarbrough

“Objects of Affection” is an essay that makes one consider how different society can be from one country to the next. Ewa Hryniewicz-Yarbrough tells the story of her grandmother, who learned to get along with a small amount of useful, long-lasting items, after her apartment was burned as a result of the Warsaw uprising. This characteristic, Ewa Hryniewicz-Yarbrough explains, has been passed on to her. Growing up in Poland during the communist era, she learned to adapt to constant shortages by becoming attached to what little she had. Even upon arriving in the United States, Hryniewicz-Yarbrough continued to hold affection for items that might of seemed useless to others.

The author’s audience seems to be the Westerners that she refers to a number of times during to essay, since the materialism in Western culture was, for the most part, nonexistent in Poland. Hryniewicz-Yarbrough’s perspective is new and interesting to the Western eye, and it also may teach a lesson about greed and taking things for granted. Her purpose seems to be exposing the situation in Poland during her childhood in order to make us ponder our lifestyle.

I think she accomplished her purpose, as it really made me think about how different my life is compared to hers. Hryniewicz-Yarbrough used examples of items she had held on to for a long time, such as a doll she had named Gabriela. I realized while reading this that I could not name any such toy or plaything that had had the same significance to me as Gabriela had had for Hryniewicz-Yarbrough.

One of the reasons this essay was so effective was the personification of items. For example, Hryniewicz-Yarbrough writes of items that were salvaged from a bombed-out building, referring to them as “mute witnesses”. She also uses this device to describe an antique shop, writing about how a “gilded mirror enjoys good neighborly relations with an electric coffee grinder.” These make the piece much more interesting, while at the same time making it easier to understand.

Hryniewicz-Yarbrough works as an essayist and a literary translator.

Ruined buildings as a result of the Warsaw Uprising (1944).
Source: http://polishpress.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/old_town_warsaw_waf-2012-1501-311945.jpg