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 tries to convince Emilia to leave him but she will not go. He tells her he cannot protect her, and she suggests that maybe she can protect him. He continues to walk and she continues to trail behind. He is frustrated that she is slowing him down, but is once again reminded of his little sister. He turns back and gives her a gun to protect herself.
Florian is torn between a selfish desire to travel alone and unburdened, and memories of his own little sister, who might be in need of a savior, in the same way Emilia is in need of a knight. He ignores the possibility that Emilia might be able to help him, only seeing her as a burden.
Themes
Florian wonders if he has made a mistake, and realizes how suspicious he and Emilia look—a Prussian “carrying enough secrets to blow up the kingdom,” and a “Pole with a Soviet gun.”
Florian knows how he and Emilia look to the outside world. For those who judge individuals based on their nationality or ethnicity, the two of them are clearly out of place. He worries this will lead to their deaths.
Themes
