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 tumbles into the water, disappearing under the waves. He chokes and starts to drown, until his head is able to break the surface. He sees a cell phone bobbing in the water in a plastic bag, and catches it. He then hears Fatima scream out, and watches as she struggles to lift a crying Hana out of the water. Mahmoud swims over to his mother and tries to help keep Fatima and Hana above the water.
Even though Mahmoud is filled with despair, his immediate instinct is to protect his mother and sister. Instead of worrying about himself, he tries to make sure that they can survive. This is a very mature instinct for a 12-year-old boy, but the ordeal that they are facing requires Mahmoud to grow up and take on that responsibility.
Themes
Mahmoud then sees Youssef and Waleed swimming nearby. His father says that the life preservers are fake. Mahmoud is furious, but all he can do is keep kicking to stay afloat. All around them, people are wondering how to get to dry land, as the boat has sunk and there is nothing in sight. Hours pass and the rain stops, but Mahmoud’s legs grow numb with exhaustion.
Gratz illustrates the cruelty and lack of compassion of the people they met in Turkey. These people knew that the life vests didn’t work and that selling them could cost the refugees their lives, and yet they did so anyway in order to profit off of an already vulnerable group.
Themes
Suddenly, Mahmoud sees another boat of people. Mahmoud and his family cry out for help, but the dinghy isn’t slowing down. Mahmoud grabs onto it, bringing Fatima and Hana with him. A woman in the boat yells for him to let go because he’s dragging them down.
As refugees themselves, it is difficult for the people on the boat to help others, because they already have so little. Ultimately it is up to others with more resources to bear this social responsibility and help make sure that any refugee can get safely from political turmoil to a place where they can begin a new life, which is why Gratz tries to call on readers to sympathize with Mahmoud’s and others’ plights.
Themes
Mahmoud begs to be let onto the boat, but those on board insist there is no room. A man offers to call the Coast Guard for them. Mahmoud then makes a quick decision, asking them to take Hana because she won’t take up any room. A woman appears on the side of the boat and takes Hana from them. Then, Mahmoud and Fatima are thrown back into the ocean. Fatima sobs in the water.
Here, Mahmoud makes his heaviest and most mature decision because of the direness of their situation. Even though it means separating from Hana and potentially never seeing her again, he offers his sister to the other refugees because he knows it will give her a better chance of survival. Again, this is not a decision that a child should have to make, but Mahmoud does so because he wants his sister to have a chance to live above all else.
Themes
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