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
Alfred walks through the ship. Joana had asked him to keep a lookout for Florian, and this request has reinvigorated Alfred. He runs into the Poet and Klaus, who make their dislike of him known. The Poet tells Alfred he saw him kick a stray dog, and Alfred responds that, according to Hitler, “it makes no sense to support the weak or crippled.”
Alfred feels important completing tasks for Joana and Florian, whom he still believes is on a secret Nazi mission. Joana and Florian do not like or respect him, and neither do Klaus or the Poet. Although Florian sometimes acts selfishly, the other three care deeply about the wellbeing of others, and the survival of the weak.