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172. Florian
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Salt to the Sea, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Agency, Willpower, and Fate
Storytelling and Fantasy
Memory and Survival
Family and Community vs. Selfishness
Summary
Analysis
Emilia is in the kitchen of her childhood home. Her friends Rachel and Helen are coming over after synagogue. Halinka, now a young child, is running around the kitchen, playing. Outside, are Emilia’s mother and her baby brother. Storks fly overhead, and her mother comments that the birds have finally come home. Emilia raises her face to the sun. She thinks, “my war had been so long, my winters so cold. But I had finally made it home.”
Emilia has spent much of the novel trying to comfort herself with fantasies of a happier life. Now, as she dies, Emilia’s fantasy has fully come to life. The storks flying above symbolize the reunification of her entire family, living and dead. She has finally found peace.
Themes
