Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Refugee, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Trauma and Coming of Age
Injustice and Cruelty vs. Empathy and Social Responsibility
Hope vs. Despair
Family, Displacement, and Culture
Invisibility and the Refugee Experience
Summary
Analysis
Isabel and the others become despondent at seeing the Coast Guard ship. A search light clicks on and scans the water. Suddenly, Teresa grows panicked: the baby is coming. Then, Luis realizes that the Coast Guard ship is not after them; there is another boat of refugees toward which the ship is steering. They desperately paddle for the shore as Teresa has contractions.
Despite the fact that the Coast Guard is extremely close to apprehending the Fernandezes and Castillos, Isabel and the others refuse to give up the hope that they can make it, knowing that reaching Miami is the only way for them to build a new life.
Themes
Isabel and the others continue to row to shore, getting nearer and nearer. The Coast Guard takes in the refugees on the other boat, but then its search light finds theirs. Isabel paddles like crazy as Teresa insists that she wants to have the baby in the U.S. But Isabel can see that the Coast Guard will reach them before they are able to make it to Miami.
Like Josef, Isabel has in many ways switched places with her parents. While her mother has contractions and her father cares for her mother, Isabel takes on the responsibility of an adult and tries to get them to shore.
Themes
