The novel Train takes place in Berlin over a ten-day span following Stalingrad. The Nazis are persecuting the six main characters or their family members. An obvious theme for most Holocaust books is yearning for freedom. While that is true in Train, it is not just simply because of where it takes place. However, the complexity of the characters leads them to yearn to be free from their inner chains, internal struggles. The theme is a connection to the setting, because in Nazi Germany many people were yearning to be free from potential death. In addition, characters face their own challenges they want to be free from not just the Nazis. Elise is a member of the Hitler youth and is the “perfect” German. She is not persecuted; however, the Nazis killed her brother, through the T-4 project. She did not want her brother to be killed, which shows she yearns to be from the Nazis. In order to understand her deeper yearning for freedom, understanding her home life is vital;  “Today had been like any other day. Elise had gotten up at dawn. She’d washed the floors and prepared boiled potatoes and fish for her mother” .(9)This establishes the responsibilities Elise faces and suggests an unhealthy home life. By explaining this was all for her mother the author is hinting that Elise takes on the role of leader of the house. Elise’s home life sounds as though she has had to grow up quickly, stealing the childhood from her. As Elise is only fifteen and caring for her mother it also raises the question of loneliness. Later in the novel we see she is depressed, which could be from how monopolizing her home life is, but loneliness is also a key factor. Elise struggles with schizophrenia, “‘Can we play?’ Viktor asked,” this not only shows her schizophrenia but the question being asked also references why she is depressed. By Viktor asking if she can play the author is implying that when her brother was alive Elise was able to be a child and not have the pressures of being adult because of her mom’s condition. Because we only know about Elise’s current depression a glimpse into her life at a less lonely time poses the question: when Elise’s brother was still alive was she depressed? Also, if her home life was better and she was not lonely what other ways was her Schizophrenia present? One of the early signs of her depression is cutting. Though the government is not persecuting her, she yearns to be free from her depression, loneliness and draining home life. She is one example of the multi-levels of yearning for freedom characters face. Elise illustrates that yearning for freedom is not necessarily yearning for a free physical state, but being liberated from a mental state or situation. Elise is an example of how the Nazis were not the only people who trapped others; Elise’s mother, loneliness, and her depression traps her.