Salt to the Sea

Salt to the Sea

by

Ruta Sepetys

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East Prussia Term Analysis

A province within the larger Free State of Prussia. Prussia itself was part of the even larger German Empire, which extended from modern-day Germany to the present Latvian border. East Prussia was partitioned and absorbed by Poland and Lithuania.
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East Prussia Term Timeline in Salt to the Sea

The timeline below shows where the term East Prussia appears in Salt to the Sea. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
1. Joana
Family and Community vs. Selfishness  Theme Icon
Joana is traveling with a group of refugees fleeing north through East Prussia to the Baltic Sea. Her traveling companions include the Poet, Eva, and Ingrid.  Evacuation orders... (full context)
2. Florian
Memory and Survival  Theme Icon
Family and Community vs. Selfishness  Theme Icon
...He remembers his mother telling him he’s talented, and his father reminding him “You are Prussian. Make your own decisions, son.” He wonders if his parents would approve of him now... (full context)
41. Emilia
Family and Community vs. Selfishness  Theme Icon
...for a moment, until Eva begins to scream. She had explored upstairs and found the Prussian family who owned the home dead in their beds. (full context)
42. Florian
Agency, Willpower, and Fate Theme Icon
Memory and Survival  Theme Icon
Florian suspects the Prussian family had been eating dinner when Russian forces began to approach. The patriarch, rather than... (full context)
43. Alfred
Storytelling and Fantasy  Theme Icon
...evacuation orders have finally been issued, and that “millions of people in this region of East Prussia will now flee to me for help.” (full context)
45. Emilia
Storytelling and Fantasy  Theme Icon
Memory and Survival  Theme Icon
...a child. Her mind then shifts to the farm her father sent her to in East Prussia , and the storage cellar there. Emilia reaches for her pregnant stomach. (full context)
71. Florian
Agency, Willpower, and Fate Theme Icon
Family and Community vs. Selfishness  Theme Icon
...“the German” because she does not know his name, and he corrects her, explaining he’s Prussian. She asks him to call her Joana, not “nurse” or “girl” as he has been. (full context)
Memory and Survival  Theme Icon
Family and Community vs. Selfishness  Theme Icon
Joana reveals that she left a signed note in the Prussian mansion saying she’d borrowed their sewing kit. She worries someone will find the note and... (full context)
95. Alfred
Storytelling and Fantasy  Theme Icon
Family and Community vs. Selfishness  Theme Icon
...happy to leave East Prussia, which he finds strange. He writes about members of the Prussian nobility who would rather stay in their homes and kill themselves when the Russians approached... (full context)
102. Florian
Agency, Willpower, and Fate Theme Icon
Family and Community vs. Selfishness  Theme Icon
...would it mean to be German after the war? What would it mean to be Prussian?”  (full context)
124. Joana
Family and Community vs. Selfishness  Theme Icon
...showing the soldier how he forged Joana’s signature from the note she left in the Prussian manor that Florian stole to protect her. Joana leaves, angrily, but first tells him that... (full context)
129. Florian
Agency, Willpower, and Fate Theme Icon
Memory and Survival  Theme Icon
Florian considers his Prussian identity. He wonders what will happen to the forty million people who called Prussia home.... (full context)