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47. 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
Walking up and down the Wilhelm Gustloff is too much exercise for Alfred. He often hides to avoid his duty. Still, his superior finds him and orders him to clear furniture from a ballroom for refugees. He looks at the dance floor and imagines Hannelore dancing as he often observed through the window, but admits to himself that she “might be dancing for someone else now.”
Ominously, Alfred hints that Hannelore may not be waiting in his hometown for him. Just as he hinted in an earlier chapter that “duty called” and he was forced to take action, this idea that Hannelore is “dancing for someone else” suggests that she is not, in fact, his sweetheart.
Themes
