Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Salt to the Sea, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Agency, Willpower, and Fate
Storytelling and Fantasy
Memory and Survival
Family and Community vs. Selfishness
Summary
Analysis
The blonde Nazi interrupts Joana in the maternity ward. He is looking for Florian and wants Joana to confirm his name, which she will not do on the grounds of confidentiality. The soldier threatens Joana, pointing out that as a repatriated Lithuanian she could easily be turned over to Stalin.
Joana cares about Florian enough that she will put herself in danger. Although she legally repatriated, she remains vulnerable as her asylum status could technically be revoked at any time.
Themes
The blonde Nazi reveals that Florian is a courier for Gauleiter Koch, and that Florian claimed Joana was assigned, by Koch, as his personal nurse. The soldier also tells Joana about the signed medical testimony (which Florian, unbeknownst to her, had forged with her signature). Shocked by this new information, Joana nonetheless maintains her composure. She tells the soldier she briefly saw Florian to take out his stitches, but that he had said he wanted to board the Hansa, another ship, instead.
Joana is forced to confront the fact that, although she likes Florian and has recently kissed him, she doesn’t fully know him. Some of the information the blonde Nazi has presented her with is false—identification papers fabricated by Florian to gain access to the ship—but Joana, like the blonde Nazi, is forced to wonder if Florian is a Nazi spy.
Themes
