Previous
Isabel: Outside Havana, Cuba – 1994 (2)
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
Mahmoud spots Waleed across the living room, covered head to toe in concrete dust. Waleed’s eyes are glassy, but he is able to talk. Then, Fatima emerges from the bedroom with Hana, thanking God that Mahmoud and Waleed are alive. Fatima starts to pack a few things, while Mahmoud takes Hana and Waleed out of the apartment building.
Mahmoud is again expected to act as an adult in this time of crisis, making sure that his brother and sister are safe while his mother tries to gather whatever she can. This serves as another example of how being steeped in a country undergoing trauma can greatly affect the level of responsibility given to a child.
Themes
The street is filled with rubble, and buildings are collapsing around them. Mahmoud is stunned that that there are no police cars or emergency crews coming to help, until he realizes that there aren’t any left. Mahmoud watches as their own apartment building collapses. He starts to panic that Fatima is still in the building, but then he sees her emerge from the rubble with the family’s backpacks, filled with clothes and diapers.
Fatima tries to call Youssef, Mahmoud’s father, but they see him running down the street, overjoyed that they are safe. Youssef tells them that he has parked their car nearby, and that they are going to make their way to Germany, which is accepting Syrian refugees. Mahmoud complains that it’s cold in Germany, and Youssef starts to sing a song from Frozen as a joke to lighten the mood.
Like Isabel’s father, Geraldo, Youssef recognizes the fact that Syria has largely succumbed to despair, and wants to find a better place to protect his family. This is also why he continues to make jokes throughout this harrowing journey, to lighten their spirits and give them hope about the future.
Themes
Fatima expresses doubts about getting to Germany, but Youssef assures her that they can drive to Turkey and then take a boat, or train. He points out that they don’t have much of a choice, with their home destroyed. Fatima tells him that she was able to retrieve the money that they’d put away. Youssef insists that they need to use it to leave Syria, otherwise they may not survive the war.
It is interesting to note, at this point, the cyclical nature of the places the refugees are heading: Isabel to the U.S. from Cuba, Josef to Cuba from Germany, and Mahmoud to Germany from Syria. This demonstrates how any place and any person can fall victim to war or oppression, and that’s why it’s important for all people and countries to be kind to refugees—as Lito points out later in the book, it may one day happen to them.
Themes
Get the entire Refugee LitChart as a printable PDF.
