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
Because he is afraid he is going to die, Florian begins to tell Joana the secrets of his life. Joana thinks of her own mother, and wonders how she will find out about her daughter’s death.
Joana considers Emilia, how she pushed Klaus into the boat, sacrificing herself, and begins to cry.
Selflessly, Emilia saved her child and Klaus instead of herself.
Themes
Joana wonders if her mother, who loved Lithuania, will be able to return and reunite with Joana’s father and brother, who might be hiding in a bunker in the woods. As she thinks this Florian kisses her and points out that a boat is coming.
In this moment, people Joana has loved in her past and present come together. She and Florian might actually be rescued, and they might reunite with her family.
Themes
