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54. Emilia
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
Joana wonders where Florian has gone. She pretends to herself that she cares about his wound, but in reality she is curious about him, and wants to know more.
Just as Florian is falling in love with Joana, Joana is falling in love with Florian. Each has intellectual reasons why their attraction is irrational, but despite this, they can’t resist.
Themes
Joana and her group are some of the first to cross the ice. Ingrid insists on going first, as she can sense the strength of the ice. Some of the ice is frozen red with the blood and bodies of refugees who have fallen in before. Ingrid can sense this even though she cannot see it.
Once again, Ingrid demonstrates that her disability doesn’t make her a less important or valuable member of society, regardless of what the Nazis have decreed.
Themes
Suddenly, Russian planes appear overhead. They fire bullets at the ice and Ingrid falls through. Joana, who has fallen to the ground, tries to crawl towards her but the cracks in the ice expand and threaten to swallow her too. Florian, who has appeared from nowhere, grabs Joana’s ankle and pulls her to safety as Ingrid drowns.
Joana lets her desire to help Ingrid overpower her own sense of self-preservation. Luckily for her, Florian has been watching Joana, and although he insists he doesn’t care about her wellbeing, in this moment he demonstrates that he does, as he risks his own life to save hers.
Themes
