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
Mahmoud is waiting with his family for a boat that can take them from Turkey to Greece. But the smuggler tells them that there is no boat today—that it will come “tomorrow.” Mahmoud can’t believe it—they spent two long days trying to get to the boat on time, and now it isn’t coming. Fatima asks where they’re supposed to go. The smuggler, shrugging, tells them that there’s a park nearby.
Just as Gratz introduced the word “tomorrow” into Isabel’s story as a marker of hope and optimism, he introduces it into Mahmoud’s story here as well. Yet for Mahmoud, “tomorrow” carries a sense of despair in that they have to put off their journey and find a place to stay for the night—a task which proves very difficult.
Themes
As Mahmoud’s family walks through Izmir, trying to find a hotel, Mahmoud is amazed at how little rubble and destruction there is. Mahmoud asks Waleed if he remembers when Syria was like this, but Waleed says nothing. Mahmoud worries about Waleed, who is usually a ball of energy, but now seems cheerless.
Mahmoud is not the only child in his family who has been forced to grow up prematurely—Waleed has also lost much of his playfulness and childishness due to the trauma that he has experienced in Syria, and in traveling to Turkey.
Themes
Youssef discovers that every hotel in town is booked with three families in each room. The family goes to the park, but it is cold, rainy, and filled with other refugees. Then, a small Syrian boy offers to show them a place to stay for 2,000 Syrian pounds (about 10 American dollars). They pay the money and the boy leads them to an abandoned mall filled with squatters, where they find an empty shop in which to stay.
Though Mahmoud and his family’s journey, Gratz proves how refugees constantly face injustice and a lack of empathy. Despite their vulnerable position, people (like the Syrian boy) take advantage of the fact that refugee families often have nowhere to stay, and lack the empathy to help them through their difficult journey.
Themes
Youssef assures the family that they are only staying there for the night. The Syrian boy asks if they’re going to leave on a boat in the morning, and tells them that they need life vests in case the boat flips, runs out of gas, or wrecks on the rocks. Youssef is hesitant, but agrees to buy the life vests.
It’s unclear at this point whether or not Youssef and his family can really trust the Syrian boy. Given that he asked for money simply to show the family where they could spend the night, it could be that the boy is taking advantage of their situation and selling them faulty equipment just to earn a profit.
Themes
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