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
The passengers on the St. Louis receive good news: Belgium, Holland, France, and England have agreed to divide the refugees among them. The passengers throw an enormous party in celebration. Josef, Rachel, and Ruthie are assigned to France. Josef had wanted to go to England, across the English Channel, but just hopes that they’ll be safe outside of Germany.
The lack of empathy on the part of the Cuban and United States governments is temporarily remedied by the empathy and responsibility taken up by Belgium, Holland, France, and England—again allowing the passengers to retain hope that the ship will bring them to a new life.
Themes
Josef, Ruthie, and Rachel arrive in France exactly 40 days after leaving on the ship. Josef thinks of the story of Moses, who wandered for 40 years before reaching the Promised Land. He hopes France will be their Promised Land. When they arrive in France, the secretary general of the French Refugee Assistance Committee officially welcomes them, and porters carry their luggage off of the ship for them.
Josef in particular is able to maintain hope that a new life awaits him, despite not knowing what life in France will be like. Additionally, it is worth noting that Josef has been able to retain his Jewish identity (evidenced by his comparison to Moses) despite the fact that he has been displaced from his home and frequently discouraged from practicing his religion.
Themes
Josef, Rachel, and Ruthie spend the night in a hotel before taking a train to Le Mans, where they are put up in cheap lodging. Rachel gets work doing laundry, and Ruthie starts kindergarten at last. Josef also returns to school—attending first grade, because he doesn’t know the language. But two months later, Germany invades Poland, touching off a new world war. Eight months after that, Germany invades France, and Josef and his family are on the run again.
It is comical that after all Josef has experienced and the adult responsibilities he has taken on, he is placed in the first grade. This again marks some of the hardships that refugees face even after they have found a place to live. Additionally, Josef is unable to really resume his education, as the beginning of World War II forces them to become refugees once more. Thus, Josef doesn’t only face this trauma once, but several times.
Themes
