Summary:
This book was based around a historical event in Paris, France: the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of 1942. The story follows two main protagonists. The first is ten year old Sarah Starynski who's family was just arrested by French police. In order to save her brother, she locks him in a cupboard thinking she would be coming back to save him. She took the key with her. Her family was taken to a large stadium of Jews as neighbors and friends watched. No one spoke up or stopped the police from taking thousands of children and separating them from their families. The stadium ran out of room so Sarah was moved to a different camp. While she was there she saw her mother lose confidence and ultimately switch roles with Sarah. Another young girl convinces Sarah to escape with her and they eventually find refuge with Jewish sympathizers. Sarah tells her new guardians about her brother in Paris and her need to get back. When they ask her how long it's been, Sarah understands that it has been too long and her brother is dead.
Julia Jarmond, a middle age woman living in Paris in the present day, is currently doing research about the roundup for the journal that she works for because the commemoration for the terrible event is coming up. She is falling out of love with her husband, who is unfaithful to her, and is angered that he keeps telling her to leave the past in the past. She learns that the French have turned a blind eye to their part in the Holocaust. When she finds out that one of the victim families lived in the apartment she is moving into, her interest is peaked. Her research becomes obsessive and she seeks out people that were involved with the roundup, especially those that might've known about the family that lived in her apartment. She learns that a young girl named Sarah lived there and escaped her camp. Her father in law begs her to stop researching but Julia refuses. He looks fragile as he tells her that he was in the apartment the day that Sarah returned. She barged in their house and raced to the cupboard only to find her brother's blackened corpse curled up in the corner.
Julia finds out she is pregnant after years of miscarriages and her husband tells her to abort the child. Julia finally accepts that she doesn't want her husband, she doesn't need him around. She finds relatives of Sarah's in America and takes a trip their to find out how Sarah's story ended. There she meets William, Sarah's son. He was unaware that his mother was a Holocaust survivor and told her to leave. Julia finds out her husband was still seeing his mistress and decides to divorce him. William seeks out Sarah again and asks her to tell him the whole story. He then tells her that Sarah committed suicide by driving into a tree. Now that they had both found closure, they were able to move on with their lives. Julia names her baby Sarah.
This book was based around a historical event in Paris, France: the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of 1942. The story follows two main protagonists. The first is ten year old Sarah Starynski who's family was just arrested by French police. In order to save her brother, she locks him in a cupboard thinking she would be coming back to save him. She took the key with her. Her family was taken to a large stadium of Jews as neighbors and friends watched. No one spoke up or stopped the police from taking thousands of children and separating them from their families. The stadium ran out of room so Sarah was moved to a different camp. While she was there she saw her mother lose confidence and ultimately switch roles with Sarah. Another young girl convinces Sarah to escape with her and they eventually find refuge with Jewish sympathizers. Sarah tells her new guardians about her brother in Paris and her need to get back. When they ask her how long it's been, Sarah understands that it has been too long and her brother is dead.
Julia Jarmond, a middle age woman living in Paris in the present day, is currently doing research about the roundup for the journal that she works for because the commemoration for the terrible event is coming up. She is falling out of love with her husband, who is unfaithful to her, and is angered that he keeps telling her to leave the past in the past. She learns that the French have turned a blind eye to their part in the Holocaust. When she finds out that one of the victim families lived in the apartment she is moving into, her interest is peaked. Her research becomes obsessive and she seeks out people that were involved with the roundup, especially those that might've known about the family that lived in her apartment. She learns that a young girl named Sarah lived there and escaped her camp. Her father in law begs her to stop researching but Julia refuses. He looks fragile as he tells her that he was in the apartment the day that Sarah returned. She barged in their house and raced to the cupboard only to find her brother's blackened corpse curled up in the corner.
Julia finds out she is pregnant after years of miscarriages and her husband tells her to abort the child. Julia finally accepts that she doesn't want her husband, she doesn't need him around. She finds relatives of Sarah's in America and takes a trip their to find out how Sarah's story ended. There she meets William, Sarah's son. He was unaware that his mother was a Holocaust survivor and told her to leave. Julia finds out her husband was still seeing his mistress and decides to divorce him. William seeks out Sarah again and asks her to tell him the whole story. He then tells her that Sarah committed suicide by driving into a tree. Now that they had both found closure, they were able to move on with their lives. Julia names her baby Sarah.
Themes:
Silence - Sarah was frustrated with the silence of bystanders. Silence then became her most powerful form of resistance. The French used silence to avoid the guilt of what they did. Julia was very silent in her marriage and it ended up hurting her relationship.
Guilt - Sarah's guilt for her brother's death and Julia's guilt for not learning about the truth of the past are both major themes because they become an obsession. Guilt was the most felt emotion in the book.
Love can't fix everything - Even though her brother had obviously died, Sarah's love for him kept her on the road back to save him. There were many tragedies that came about even though bonds of love were seemingly big enough to overcome anything.
Silence - Sarah was frustrated with the silence of bystanders. Silence then became her most powerful form of resistance. The French used silence to avoid the guilt of what they did. Julia was very silent in her marriage and it ended up hurting her relationship.
Guilt - Sarah's guilt for her brother's death and Julia's guilt for not learning about the truth of the past are both major themes because they become an obsession. Guilt was the most felt emotion in the book.
Love can't fix everything - Even though her brother had obviously died, Sarah's love for him kept her on the road back to save him. There were many tragedies that came about even though bonds of love were seemingly big enough to overcome anything.
Favorite Quote:
"Wasn't that the typical French attitude, "closing your eyes" on your husband's wanderings" (102)?
This quote captures some of the main conflicts in the story. The French people closed their eyes to the truth about their past with the Holocaust and Julia closed her eyes to the relationship problems that she had. Julia and Sarah struggled with this evasive behavior and eventually learned to overcome it or ignore it.
"Wasn't that the typical French attitude, "closing your eyes" on your husband's wanderings" (102)?
This quote captures some of the main conflicts in the story. The French people closed their eyes to the truth about their past with the Holocaust and Julia closed her eyes to the relationship problems that she had. Julia and Sarah struggled with this evasive behavior and eventually learned to overcome it or ignore it.
Argument:
Silence was a major symbolic tool in this book. Tatiana de Rosnay used it to show negligence, defiance, and inability to deal with the hard truth.
Silence was a major symbolic tool in this book. Tatiana de Rosnay used it to show negligence, defiance, and inability to deal with the hard truth.
In Sarah’s Key, Tatiana de Rosnay uses different kinds of silence to show contrast between the characters. She argues that there is a time and place for silence, and a time to speak up. Rosnay chastises certain types of silence and shows that sometimes, silence is more effective. Whether it has a negative or positive consequence, silence is powerful. In Sarah’s Key, it highlights silence born from fear, defiance, and negligence and how it affects the characters.
As was common during the Holocaust, people were scared to speak up against German rule in fear of being punished. In the very beginning of the book, Sarah’s family is being arrested publically in their neighborhood. When the police started handling her mother roughly, “She noticed that nobody moved, nobody said anything. They simply watched” (18). Their silence frustrated Sarah because she thought that anyone with a moral compass would see that the French police were wrong. Fear also kept Edouard silent about the truth of Sarah’s fate. This silence chipped at familial relationships until the truth came out. Once the silence was lifted, the family was able to heal from what they were afraid of. Julia hid her research from her husband to avoid his chastisement and when he found out, any trust they he had was broken and their relationship fell apart. In these instances, silence is dangerous and destructive.
However, sometimes being silent is the way to survive and to communicate. Towards the beginning of the book, Sarah sees her mother’s silent submission and weak, but farther along, she realizes that silence can be much stronger than speaking out. In order to fight back against a French policeman, she simply smiles, “a bitter smile for a child of ten” (82). This small act of defiance later guilt-tripped the officer into letting her escape. Later, while on the run, she stares down a German officer who mistakes her for a German boy. While this did not affect the officer at all, she learned that she was not worthless after. She found herself in the rebellion she was leading. While it did not always have an affect on the enemy, silent resistance was a major turning point in her life multiple times.
One of the most prominent themes in the book is that the past should not be forgotten, no matter how painful. The French are portrayed as negligent and uncaring for avoiding and minimizing any sign that they had part in condemning Jews. Sarah’s parents are unintentionally negligent when they fail to alert Sarah to the danger. In both of these cases, what wasn’t spoken up about needed to be said. This silence was unfair and harmful but no one person can be blamed for it. Julia neglected her husband enough to not notice when he got depression and went through a midlife crisis. She stopped talking to her husband and neglected her duties as a wife. This is the last straw for Bertrand, although he is neglecting her as well by having a mistress. Communication is key and if it is lost, you’ll lose each other.
Each silence has its own potency and impact, but fear, rebellion, and negligence supported the most silence in Sarah’s Key. Rosnay explored the effects of silence and how there are a myriad ways to interpret and use it. Silence is not always best, but neither is speaking out. Sarah, Julia, and the French people were all negatively affected by the silence of others and themselves, but in the end, breaking the silence was the best choice because they learned to cope with the pain. Silence is a powerful and varied tool that often gets pushed to the side as unimportant, but the meanings behind it can be more important than what is said.
As was common during the Holocaust, people were scared to speak up against German rule in fear of being punished. In the very beginning of the book, Sarah’s family is being arrested publically in their neighborhood. When the police started handling her mother roughly, “She noticed that nobody moved, nobody said anything. They simply watched” (18). Their silence frustrated Sarah because she thought that anyone with a moral compass would see that the French police were wrong. Fear also kept Edouard silent about the truth of Sarah’s fate. This silence chipped at familial relationships until the truth came out. Once the silence was lifted, the family was able to heal from what they were afraid of. Julia hid her research from her husband to avoid his chastisement and when he found out, any trust they he had was broken and their relationship fell apart. In these instances, silence is dangerous and destructive.
However, sometimes being silent is the way to survive and to communicate. Towards the beginning of the book, Sarah sees her mother’s silent submission and weak, but farther along, she realizes that silence can be much stronger than speaking out. In order to fight back against a French policeman, she simply smiles, “a bitter smile for a child of ten” (82). This small act of defiance later guilt-tripped the officer into letting her escape. Later, while on the run, she stares down a German officer who mistakes her for a German boy. While this did not affect the officer at all, she learned that she was not worthless after. She found herself in the rebellion she was leading. While it did not always have an affect on the enemy, silent resistance was a major turning point in her life multiple times.
One of the most prominent themes in the book is that the past should not be forgotten, no matter how painful. The French are portrayed as negligent and uncaring for avoiding and minimizing any sign that they had part in condemning Jews. Sarah’s parents are unintentionally negligent when they fail to alert Sarah to the danger. In both of these cases, what wasn’t spoken up about needed to be said. This silence was unfair and harmful but no one person can be blamed for it. Julia neglected her husband enough to not notice when he got depression and went through a midlife crisis. She stopped talking to her husband and neglected her duties as a wife. This is the last straw for Bertrand, although he is neglecting her as well by having a mistress. Communication is key and if it is lost, you’ll lose each other.
Each silence has its own potency and impact, but fear, rebellion, and negligence supported the most silence in Sarah’s Key. Rosnay explored the effects of silence and how there are a myriad ways to interpret and use it. Silence is not always best, but neither is speaking out. Sarah, Julia, and the French people were all negatively affected by the silence of others and themselves, but in the end, breaking the silence was the best choice because they learned to cope with the pain. Silence is a powerful and varied tool that often gets pushed to the side as unimportant, but the meanings behind it can be more important than what is said.