The Theme Of Guilt In Sarah’s Key By Tatiana De Rosnay

Sarah’s key is about guilt. In Tatiana de Rosnay’s novel both characters are motivated by guilt that consumes them. Sarah’s guilt is from when she puts her brother in the cupboard and promised to come back and save him. She returns after escaping from the concentration camp which was too late to save his brother which she felt the guilt from until she got old. Julia’s guilt comes from learning out Sarah’s secret. She tried to find her after she gets the information from her father in law, in the end, she finds Sarah is dead but honours her newborn daughter name as Sarah. Sarah put her brother in their cupboard to keep him safe during the French policeman leave the house. She planned to come back and save him but she did not know they would be leaving Paris after the roundup to the camps far from the house she could not able to come back home and she was worried about his brother when mentioning her in the quote “she couldn’t bear the idea of him waiting in the dark. He must be hungry, thirsty. His water had probably run out”. She knows that she left her brother alone in the house in the cupboard she tries to run away from the camp and return to house in Paris to save his brother. It is really dangerous for her to run away from the camp especially since she is a Jewish girl with a yellow star on her. It is impossible her to go back home alone she finds one family who saved her and helped her to go back to Paris but “Michael was dead. Dead in the cupboard. She knew. It was too late. She had waited too long”. She still hopes to find out her brother alive because she was still in promise of him still living in the cupboard which she also knew that he was out of water and out of light battery which he stayed in the cupboard more than weeks until she come back and save him which she promise when she locked on him before she left Paris.

Julia feels guilty because of the connection of her husband to the Tezac’s family guilt which they came to live in Sarah's house when they left the house in Paris during the roundup The Tezac’s family moved to the Sarah’s apartment and they didn't know about what happened in that house which they smelled the body and they didn't know that there was a body in the house which Sarah came back and opened the cupboard which they found out that there was a body left in the cupboard when Edward was telling Julia when they meet first “be careful” he repeated he smiled , but his eyes remained serious “you’re playing with Pandora box”. He said which make her more worried and curious the same time which let her explore more to find out about Sarah's story when she found out he also asked the questions to the Edouard to make sure if she was right when Eduard got “through tears, Edouard describes the day of Sarah's return. He can't remember what was done with Michael body but recalls his father”. When Eduard also explain their relation to the Sarah when she found out her brother dead in the cupboard which Edwards dad saw that he didn't want to let Mame knows about that which he started to send money to Sarah's family who was taking care of her which she started to get help from Tezac’s family without knowing it which she hated that family which they didn't save her brother and she didn't know about their help which Julia tried to find her and tell her the truth and her families help which they helped her and after ten years their help stopped also they didn’t know anything about her. She left the town and they didn't find out anything about her anymore.

Unforgiven guilt affects both characters, Sarah and Julia, when they both did not get what they are looking for or they fail to find their reasons both of them struggled with a big problem to find what they want to and they end up by giving up. When Sarah finds out her brother is dead, she keeps her feelings inside her and didn't talk to anyone and which results her life into suicide when Julia realize her death was because of her guilt which she didn't get to her brother on time which he died because of her when she says “I cannot bear the weight of my past. Yet I cannot throw away the key of the cupboard”. That key reminds her each time about her brother dead which been as an unforgiven sin which left her entire life uncomfortable and unconscious about the truth which she got through it. It also connects to the life of Julia when she starts to follow about Sarah's history and she finds out lots of information about her life which that let her go and find her to explain her about the rough life that she gone through it when also her husband left her because she didn't ask him about his life and she was only focused about the past life “Julia keeps herself busy, working on meeting new people. She has trouble sleeping, dreaming often about Paris and the horrors of the past”, which at the end she got herself finding Sarah's son which they end up together. Overall this story, it's about promises which Sarah and Julia had promises and they didn't get into their promises which they were afraid about their life and Sarah’s main secret and hope was to find her brother alive and save him. Which Julia’s hope was to find Sarah and tell her the story about the family lived in their house there are not bad people which their characters motivated by guilt that consumes their life. After the war which Paris got through it, everyone keeps their secret which Sarah did and let her kill herself at the end because of the guilt that she felt of her brother.