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64. Alfred
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
Arriving in Gotenhafen is overwhelming. There is no organized lodging. There are lost animals in the streets, belongings dumped by the side of the roads, families separated and searching for each other. The group makes a plan to meet under a large clock if they get separated.
Amidst the chaos, the refugees turn towards each other for comfort. They know that if they are separated, reuniting as a group will make it easier for them to navigate the city and face the disorder.
Themes
A woman walking by (who is carrying a goat she intends to eat in a baby carriage) tips off Joana and the others to an old movie theatre that they could sleep in. After the woman has left, the group makes fun of her, and even Florian cracks a joke. He then takes Joana’s hand for a brief moment and apologizes about Ingrid.
Although Florian has been demonstrating with his actions that he cares about the group, for the first time he laughs and jokes with them as though they are friends. When he takes Joana’s hand he expresses his explicit romantic interest in her for the first time.
Themes
