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
Emilia thinks back to her time with the Kleist family. She worked hard but nothing she did was enough for Frau Kleist. Still, Else and August were kind to her. She doesn’t blame Else for her rape, but wonders if she ever thinks of it, or if she, too, tries to bury the memories.
Although Emilia has suffered incredible trauma, she remains kind and empathetic towards the Kleist family, who passively let the Soviet soldiers rape her. She wonders whether they endured some kind of secondhand trauma as a result of her rape.
Themes
