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11. Joana
Themes
Key
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
Florian is unhappy that the barn is not abandoned, but he decides to stop there anyway. Joana comes over and asks him about Emilia and if he has any food. Florian brushes her off. He plans to keep to himself; he believes he will be safer that way.
Although many refugees have banded together to form a community, Florian selfishly believes that he is safer alone.
Themes
Florian notices that Joana’s German is “fluent, but not native.” He also notices that she’s very pretty. Still, he reminds himself that he needs to be “able to kill her, kill them all, if I had to.”
Although not a Nazi, Florian is attuned to the nationalities of the various soldiers and civilians he meets on the road. Immediately attracted to Joana, Florian must fight his impulse to form any kind of connection with her so he can continue his journey unburdened by obligations to other people.
Themes
As Florian tries to go to sleep, Joana comes back to point out that Emilia is Polish, and that Florian did not share this. She also tells him she knows what he is hiding.
When Joana notes Florian’s secret, she is probably talking about his wound, but there is a double meaning, as he worries she might be talking about the secret parcel in his pack.
Themes
