Sarah's Key Book Project

Book Project #2

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

            Sarah’s Key is the fictional story about a young Jewish girl and her family during World War II and the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup in France. Sarah’s family is taken away, but before they leave, Sarah decides to protect her brother by locking him in a hidden cupboard, where they usually play hide-and-seek. She doesn’t realize that since he is locked in there, he will eventually die. The story flips back and forth from Sarah’s world, in Paris 1942, and Julia’s world, in 2002. Julia, a reporter for a magazine in Paris, is covering the story of the Vel’ d’Hiv’, which is unknown by many and kept secret for a reason that she soon finds.

1. Writing Option 3: Create a prologue, showing the characters’ lives before the novel begins.

            The young girl grabs hold of her brother’s hand and they scurry off, running away from the sound of counting. “No peeking!” the boy shouts on their way out of the room.

“Five, six, seven,” a gentle voice says, their mother using her hands to cover her eyes. The woman hears her children’s whispers, and smiles as she continues to count. Her voice echoes across the room and down the hallway.

The little boy points towards a doorway, and his sister nods her head in agreement. They enter the empty room, scuttling across the floor as they rush to reach their hiding spot in time. They run towards what seems to be only a wall.

The mother reaches thirty seconds, and slowly peeks through the spaces between her fingers. Then she stands up, wondering aloud, “Hmmm, where could they have disappeared to?”

The small boy opens up a hidden cupboard door and the two settle inside. The girl shuts the door with a thud and flickers a flashlight to life. The siblings stare at each other through the darkness of the cupboard, and the girl puts her finger up to her lip—a universal sign for “Be quiet.” The boy quickly nods his curly head and smiles, pressing his ear against the wall of the cupboard, so he will be able to hear their mother when she comes looking for them.

The mother searches one of the bedrooms, and finding nothing, says, “Nope, they’re not in here!” She crosses the hallway, but a knock on the apartment door interrupts her from entering the next bedroom. She walks down the hall, opens the door, and finds herself facing her husband.

Back in the apartment, she explains the she is playing hide-and-seek with the children. After spending a long day at work, a little fun could be good for him. He grins and agrees to help her look.

After putting his work things down, the two start searching again, together. They go through another bedroom only to find a few dust bunnies, so they head for the room with the hidden cupboard.

The little girl and boy start to giggle when they hear their parents enter the room. They try to silence each other, which doesn’t work too well.

“Hmm, well it looks to me like this room is empty, wouldn’t you say?” asks the father.

“Yes indeed, it doesn’t look like they could possibly be hiding in here,” the mother agrees.

The boy and girl try to stifle their laughs, but at this point they are grinning so hard that it hurts. They’ve outsmarted their parents! This hiding place has always seemed to work for them every time they have played hide-and-seek.

“How could this be? We’ve looked everywhere!” the father announces.

Then the mother says, “Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to eat without them then,” as she starts strolling out of the room.

Then a quiet, “No!” escapes from within the wall. After a few loud whispers back and forth, the boy and girl crawl out of the cupboard, looking up with bright smiles on their faces.

“Oh, there you are! We’ve been looking everywhere for you two!”

“Maman, we would like some supper as well,” the little boy mumbles, his stomach growling with hunger.

“All right then, let’s go get some food in that belly!” the mother replies.

The family walks into the kitchen and settles down around the table for a nice meal, unaware of how different this will all be in a week’s time.

 

2. Literary Term Option 4: List at least two symbols that the author uses. Provide a passage that includes a great example of how the writer uses symbolism in the novel. In well-developed paragraphs, write about the importance of this symbol in the book. Optional—Include a visual to present with the symbol.

            One symbol in Sarah’s Key is actually the key. At the beginning of the novel, the French police come to arrest Sarah’s family. Since the police only see Sarah and her mother, Sarah is able to hide her brother away. She does this to protect him, to make sure he stays safe. She originally thinks that her father will come back and unlock the cupboard to save her little brother, since her father is not in the apartment at the time. However, things don’t go exactly as planned, and she keeps the key. As they are leaving with the police, her mother shouts for Sarah’s father, and he rushes to their side. He ends up going with them because he wants to be with his family. He doesn’t know what Sarah did, but when he finds out later, he begins to cry. Sarah doesn’t understand; she doesn’t know that her innocent little brother will eventually die in that cupboard. She is just proud that she was able to be a good big sister and help protect him.

When they get to the stadium filled with all of the French Jews, all Sarah wants to do is go back home. She knows that she must save her little brother. She essentially has his life in her hands. But she soon learns that they will not return home, that they can’t. They key begins to be a symbol of hope, a hope that can bring her back home to her brother. She grips the key in her pocket and thinks about her brother through the days and weeks in the stadium. People are dying all around her, yet the key comforts her, and she keeps it close. The following passage shows the importance of the key:

“She had felt her father’s hand upon her, comforting her. The only thing she had in mind was her brother. She could not stop thinking about him. She would take the key from her pocket and kiss it feverishly, as if kissing his plump little cheeks, his curly hair” (de Rosnay 55).

 

The yellow star is another symbol in Sarah’s Key. Since it takes place during the Holocaust of World War II, the Jews are given yellow stars to sew onto all of their clothes. Sarah doesn’t understand this at first, when her mother sews it onto her clothes, and not her little brother’s. Her mother explains to her that she should be proud to wear her star, since she should not be afraid to express her religion.

However, when Sarah goes to school with her star on, everything changes. The other children without the stars begin to shun those with them. They even call them names, telling them that their parents are “dirty Jews” (47). Sarah doesn’t understand why everything has suddenly changed just because she has to wear a yellow star now. Her teacher tries to explain to the class that the star doesn’t change how they should treat one another, but it doesn’t help.

Sarah is embarrassed now that she stands out from everyone else. She is given no explanation as to why the Jewish people are suddenly being excluded from so many things. It is through Sarah’s young, innocent eyes that we see the truth: why should we treat people differently? After being picked on, she even asks herself, “Why was being a Jew so dirty?” (47). Through all of this, Sarah has to stand up and be strong, by proudly accepting her beliefs no matter what happens.