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
Florian visits Joana in the maternity ward again. He needs her help cutting his hair into the crew cut of a soldier. She follows him back to his chimney and assists him, her anger abating. As she cuts they chat. She tells Florian how he had revealed a few secrets about himself the first night they met, when she did surgery on him. He doesn’t remember, and asks if she revealed any secrets to him. Joana tells Florian again that she is a murderer.
Florian and Joana care enough about each other that they are able to move past Florian’s deception. Joana, who has been mentioning her guilt and hinting at her past crimes, finally reveals the truth, a disclosure that further cements her intimate relationship with Florian.
Themes
