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 comes in and out of sleep, until he hears the sound of a motor. He cries out, but the motor is far away. He thinks that “now, at last, when he most need[s] to be seen, he [is] truly invisible.” Mahmoud starts to cry, exhausted and miserable. He wants to go back and help the boy in the alley being beaten for his bread, to yell and wake up the citizens of Izmir so they can see the people sleeping in doorways and parks. He wants to stop being invisible.
This is a turning point for Mahmoud, as he builds on his earlier thoughts that being invisible might not necessarily be a good thing. He understands that being invisible prevented him from providing aid to others, like the boy, and how it is preventing others from helping him, because they do not know he is there.
Themes
The boat grows louder, and Mahmoud sees that it is a real boat, a Coast Guard ship from Greece. At the front of the ship are Youssef and Waleed. They pluck Mahmoud and Fatima from the water. Mahmoud explains how they gave Hana away. Youssef starts to cry, but thanks his son for saving her.
Mahmoud deeply regrets the decision he had to make. Even though Youssef is sad to have lost his daughter, he also recognizes the difficult and adult choice that Mahmoud was forced to weigh very quickly, and appreciates his desire to keep his sister safe.
Themes
When they reach the shore, Youssef kisses the ground and says thanks to Allah. Mahmoud joins him for their morning prayers. On the shore, they notice a hill made out of thousands of life jackets. They also see a few bodies on the beach, of people who hadn’t survived. Fatima notices an infant dead on the beach, but it isn’t Hana. Fatima asks all of the other refugees she can find if they had seen Hana, but no one has. Fatima howls with sorrow, and Mahmoud feels like it is all his fault.
Gratz illustrates the extent of the horrors that refugees face, which also helps demonstrate why making oneself invisible in attempts to survive can also be life-threatening. By trying to stay invisible, the refugees were doomed to smugglers looking to take advantage of them. Instead, the novel argues that it is society’s responsibility as a whole to create a safe path for them to get from Syria to a new life in a new country. They should not have to endanger their lives in order for a country to accept them.
Themes
