The Goddess of Warsaw

Content Warning: This section discusses or mentions death and murder, the Holocaust and antisemitism, and suicide.

The Browning is an important symbol in the book. It is the make of the firearm used by the baron to bludgeon Bina’s father to death; she later demands the same make of gun from Stach to kill the baron with. In this instance, it becomes an explicit symbol of both revenge and poetic justice, speaking to the theme of The Conflation of Justice and Revenge.

Even after killing the baron with the Browning, however, Bina does not let go of it. She adopts it as her last name when she takes on a new identity as Lena Browning in America. Bina’s desire to hold onto this particular aspect of her past indicates how deep-seated her motivation for revenge is. The Browning pistol is symbolic of the first time Bina is able to exact revenge for a personal tragedy; her decision to adopt this as her name foreshadows how she will continue to do this for the rest of her life as Lena.