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Mahmoud: Lesbos to Athens – 2015, 12 days (3)
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Refugee, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Trauma and Coming of Age
Injustice and Cruelty vs. Empathy and Social Responsibility
Hope vs. Despair
Family, Displacement, and Culture
Invisibility and the Refugee Experience
Summary
Analysis
A single boat is allowed to approach the St. Louis, carrying Renata and Evelyne’s father, Dr. Aber, who already lives in Cuba. He greets his daughters warmly, and with Officer Padron’s permission, carries the two girls to the ship’s ladder and leaves with them. The other passengers are speechless, demanding to know why they could leave and no one else could. Officer Padron tries to explain that they have the right papers, but the other passengers argue that they have the same visas, which they paid for.
Gratz shows the inequality and injustice that exists among the refugees as well, and how their experience is drastically different based on class and status. Many of these refugees have relatives in Cuba, and yet Dr. Aber is the only one who is able to get his daughters off the ship because of his wealth and political influence.
Themes
The ship’s engines start to rumble, and the crowd tries to rush toward the ladder. Officer Padron draws his pistol, and other officers do the same. The situation is about to boil over when Captain Schroeder appears. He explains that he had been to see President Brú to ask for the passengers to be allowed to disembark. Instead, the ship had been ordered to leave the harbor by tomorrow. There are cries of anger, but Schroeder continues, saying that they will sail to America and make appeals to President Roosevelt, and if not, Schroeder will try to make arrangements to disembark outside Germany.
To not allow the other refugees to disembark could end up dooming many of them to their deaths, since it’s uncertain where they will end up if they aren’t allowed to enter Cuba. Through this injustice, Gratz implicitly demonstrates how countries across the world have a responsibility to help those in need and to recognize that all of their lives have value.
Themes
Josef then asks Officer Padron what will happen to his father. Padron explains that Aaron isn’t well enough to come to the ship, but that Josef can’t leave. He apologizes, saying, “I’m just doing my job.” Josef searches Padron’s eyes for sympathy, but Padron just looks away. Later, after lunch, Josef watches Cuba disappear, and says goodbye to his father. He rips his shirt, just as did during the funeral for the man on the ship, because his father is dead to his family.
Josef starts to mature even more as he recognizes the injustice that he and the other refugees are experiencing. His gesture of tearing his shirt to signify mourning Aaron suggests that now, Josef will have to step up even more as a father figure in his family despite only being 13 years old.
Themes
