Sarah’s Key

Sarah’s Key

by

Tatiana De Rosnay

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Sarah’s Key makes teaching easy.

Wladyslaw Starzynski Character Analysis

Sarah’s father, originally from Poland. Wladyslaw is a kind man who is devoted to his family. He is hiding in the cellar on the night of the roundup, but when his wife, Rywka, screams for him as she and Sarah are being lead away by the French police, he emerges and insists he be arrested along with his family. Although Sarah expresses anger with her father for shielding her from the political reality of the Second World War rather than explaining it to her, she is nevertheless very close Wladyslaw and feels safer when he is around. Wladyslaw encourages Sarah to be brave and when the family is deported from Paris to the Beaune-la-Rolande internment camp, he tells her, “I am here with you. And we are with your brother. He is in our prayers, in our hearts.” Wladyslaw is separated from Sarah and her mother upon arrival at Beaune-la-Rolande, so Sarah is not able to say goodbye to him. Julia learns that Wladyslaw was transported from Beaune-la-Rolande on convoy 15, which infamously travelled to Auschwitz.

Wladyslaw Starzynski Quotes in Sarah’s Key

The Sarah’s Key quotes below are all either spoken by Wladyslaw Starzynski or refer to Wladyslaw Starzynski. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Remembrance and History Theme Icon
).
Chapter 9 Quotes

Her father looked down at her. He said her name again, very softly. His eyes were still wet, his eyelashes spiked with tears. He put his hand on the back of her neck.
“Be brave, my sweet love. Be brave, as brave as you can.”
She could not cry. Her fear was so great it seemed to engulf everything else, it seemed to suck up every single emotion within her, like a monstrous, powerful vacuum.

Related Characters: Wladyslaw Starzynski (speaker), Sarah “Sirka” Starzynski
Related Symbols: The Key
Page Number: 23
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

But she had seen. She knew what it was. A young woman, her mother’s age, and a small child. The woman had jumped, her child held close, from the highest railing.
From where the girl sat, she could see the dislocated body of the woman, the bloody skull of the child, sliced open like a ripe tomato.
The girl bent her head and cried.

Related Characters: Sarah “Sirka” Starzynski (speaker), Wladyslaw Starzynski
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

As she looked at Eva and her mother, the girl wondered if her parents had been right to protect her from everything, if they had been right to keep disturbing, bad news away fro her. If they had been right not to explain why so many things had changed from them since the beginning of the war. Like when Eva’s husband never came back last year. He had disappeared. Where? Nobody would tell her. Nobody would explain. She hated being treated like a baby. She hated the voices being lowered when she entered the room.

If they had told her, if they had told her everything they knew, wouldn’t that have made today easier?

Related Characters: Sarah “Sirka” Starzynski (speaker), Wladyslaw Starzynski, Rywka Starzynski
Page Number: 40
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

She had grown up too much to be afraid anymore. She was no longer a baby. Her parents would be proud of her. That’s what she wanted them to be. Proud because she had escaped from that camp. Proud because she was going to Paris, to save her brother. Proud, because she wasn’t afraid.
She fell upon the tar with her teeth, gnawing at her mother’s minute stitches. Finally, the yellow piece of cloth fell away from the blouse. She looked at it. Big, black letters. JEW. She rolled it up in her hands.
“Doesn’t it look small, all of a sudden?” she said to Rachel.

Related Characters: Sarah “Sirka” Starzynski (speaker), Michel Starzynski, Wladyslaw Starzynski, Rywka Starzynski , Rachel
Related Symbols: The Yellow Star
Page Number: 97-98
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Sarah’s Key LitChart as a printable PDF.
Sarah’s Key PDF

Wladyslaw Starzynski Quotes in Sarah’s Key

The Sarah’s Key quotes below are all either spoken by Wladyslaw Starzynski or refer to Wladyslaw Starzynski. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Remembrance and History Theme Icon
).
Chapter 9 Quotes

Her father looked down at her. He said her name again, very softly. His eyes were still wet, his eyelashes spiked with tears. He put his hand on the back of her neck.
“Be brave, my sweet love. Be brave, as brave as you can.”
She could not cry. Her fear was so great it seemed to engulf everything else, it seemed to suck up every single emotion within her, like a monstrous, powerful vacuum.

Related Characters: Wladyslaw Starzynski (speaker), Sarah “Sirka” Starzynski
Related Symbols: The Key
Page Number: 23
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

But she had seen. She knew what it was. A young woman, her mother’s age, and a small child. The woman had jumped, her child held close, from the highest railing.
From where the girl sat, she could see the dislocated body of the woman, the bloody skull of the child, sliced open like a ripe tomato.
The girl bent her head and cried.

Related Characters: Sarah “Sirka” Starzynski (speaker), Wladyslaw Starzynski
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

As she looked at Eva and her mother, the girl wondered if her parents had been right to protect her from everything, if they had been right to keep disturbing, bad news away fro her. If they had been right not to explain why so many things had changed from them since the beginning of the war. Like when Eva’s husband never came back last year. He had disappeared. Where? Nobody would tell her. Nobody would explain. She hated being treated like a baby. She hated the voices being lowered when she entered the room.

If they had told her, if they had told her everything they knew, wouldn’t that have made today easier?

Related Characters: Sarah “Sirka” Starzynski (speaker), Wladyslaw Starzynski, Rywka Starzynski
Page Number: 40
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

She had grown up too much to be afraid anymore. She was no longer a baby. Her parents would be proud of her. That’s what she wanted them to be. Proud because she had escaped from that camp. Proud because she was going to Paris, to save her brother. Proud, because she wasn’t afraid.
She fell upon the tar with her teeth, gnawing at her mother’s minute stitches. Finally, the yellow piece of cloth fell away from the blouse. She looked at it. Big, black letters. JEW. She rolled it up in her hands.
“Doesn’t it look small, all of a sudden?” she said to Rachel.

Related Characters: Sarah “Sirka” Starzynski (speaker), Michel Starzynski, Wladyslaw Starzynski, Rywka Starzynski , Rachel
Related Symbols: The Yellow Star
Page Number: 97-98
Explanation and Analysis: