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65. 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
Emilia sees that Florian is beautiful when he smiles. He reminds her of August. Emilia wishes that her mother could have met August as well. She knows Joana still has her mother, and understands that reuniting with her mother is Joana’s primary motivation. Emilia thinks, “A girl who lost her mother was suddenly a tiny boat on an angry ocean. Some boats eventually floated ashore. And some boats, like me, seemed to float farther and farther away from land.”
Because her mother is alive, Joana is given purpose and direction: she must survive to reunite with her family. Emilia’s entire family has died, and so, although she has been fighting for her life, she feels that she has no direction, she has nowhere to go, and no one to motivate her to continue forwards.
Themes
Emilia believes she cannot make it much longer. She feels “with each step, the truth drew closer.”
Although Emilia has been hiding her trauma beneath layers of fantasy, she believes that the truth will eventually come out, perhaps when her baby is born.
Themes
