Refugee Essay Questions

What role does the concept of survival play in Refugee?

Survival plays a significant role in Refugee as one of the book's major themes. The theme of people striving to live through trying circumstances is first introduced in Josef's storyline. As a survivor of Dachau, Josef's father knows the extent of the Nazis' brutality and is determined to force his way onto the MS St. Louis, seeing escape from Germany as his only chance at survival. Meanwhile, the Castillos' and Fernandezes' struggle to keep their homemade watercraft afloat amid storms and swarming sharks highlight the characters' efforts to survive. Mahmoud's storyline also touches on survival when his family members are stranded in the Mediterranean with fake life jackets, and he takes the life jacket of a dead man to save his mother. Despite the moral implications, Mahmoud's biological imperative to stay alive makes him act in ways he never thought possible.

What role does the concept of self-sacrifice play in Refugee?

As one of the novel's most important themes, self-sacrifice plays a significant role in Refugee. The theme first appears in Isabel's story, when she sacrifices her treasured trumpet to obtain gasoline, which she uses to get her family on the Castillos' boat out of Cuba. Additionally, Lito's diversion of the US Coast Guard highlights the importance of self-sacrifice in ensuring his family's survival. Towards the end of the book, the theme comes up again when Ruthie informs Mahmoud that her brother Josef went to a concentration camp in order to secure her freedom. Josef's selflessness has a lasting impact, allowing Ruthie to offer refuge to the Bisharas many years later. In this way, Gratz shows how people's willingness to be honorable and put others' needs before their own contributes to a better world in which one person's freedom can extend to the freedom of countless others.

In what ways does Gratz explore the concept of visibility in Refugee?

Defined as the extent to which someone attracts attention, visibility is a significant theme in Refugee. Gratz explores the theme chiefly through his portrayals of Josef and Mahmoud. In Josef's case, the anti-Semitic propaganda ubiquitous in 1930s Germany leads to him attracting unwanted attention, his Jewish identity broadcasted to everyone because of the yellow armband Jews must wear. As an experiment, Josef walks through the German sections of a train car without the armband and is treated with the humanity he once enjoyed. In Mahmoud's story, hostility between Shia and Sunni Muslims affects his day-to-day life, and he longs to disappear from notice so as not to attract the attention of bullies. However, Mahmoud changes his mind later in the novel, having realized that he and other refugees need the public to care about their struggle. To make himself and others visible, he leads a group of refugees across the country to Austria, attracting media coverage and gaining the compassion of people around the world. In this way, he regains his humanity by making himself visible.

How is displacement significant to the different storylines of Refugee?

As one of the book's major themes, displacement plays a significant role in Refugee. In Josef's narrative, the rise of Hitler and the anti-Semitic policies of the Nazi Party progressively erode his German-Jewish family's cultural ties to Germany. In 1939, Josef's father is released from a concentration camp under the condition that he relocate his family outside the country, making their physical and cultural displacement complete. In Isabel's story, her family leaves their economically repressed and politically oppressive home in search of a better life in the United States, at the risk of losing touch with Cuban culture. In Mahmoud's narrative, his family endures the ravages of civil war until a bomb destroys their home, resulting in their physical displacement. Faced with unbearable circumstances, the Bisharas join other refugees, moving from one camp to another until they find refuge in Germany. For each of the three protagonists and their families, political conditions push them out of their homes and homelands.

In what ways does Gratz explore the concept of trauma in Refugee?

The theme of trauma is a central focus of the novel. Gratz presents the theme most directly through Josef's father, Aaron Landau. After he spends six months at the Dachau concentration camp, where he endures starvation and psychological torture and is forced to witness Nazis drowning Jewish prisoners, Aaron is traumatized beyond recognition. While leaving Germany with his family, Aaron exhibits symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, manifesting mainly as paranoia. For instance, Aaron is too afraid to leave his cabin on the MS St. Louis, believing the Nazis on the ship will capture him. Aaron's inability to process his trauma eventually leads him to attempt suicide by leaping off the ship while it is in a Cuban harbor. He survives, but arrives in the hospital in such poor psychological condition that the Cubans don't return him to his family on the ship when it turns around.