In the book Refugee, Alan Gratz tells three stories of refugees at different times. They are all similar and undoubtedly very tragic. These are the stories of people who have endured all sorts of hardships of fleeing from their homeland with the sole purpose of surviving somewhere else. The attempt to link three rather diverse stories into a single whole is successful due to the similarity of the characters. Despite the different reasons that prompted Isabel and Josef to leave their native country, and the fate of their loved ones that affected the emotional state of the children, they are similar in that the road to a new life is not easy for them, but they have to go through it to escape from death.
Both Isabel and Josef left their native country to survive. In 1939, Josef and his family boarded the ship St. Louis to find refuge from the Nazis in Cuba (Gratz 35). The official who issued the visas fell out of favor, and the President of Cuba decided to recoup himself in this way: they retroactively canceled visas for Jews. The story of Isabel takes place in 1994 during the collapse of the USSR and the rebellion in Cuba. Isabel, like many other Cubans, decided to sail with her family on a homemade boat 90 miles from Havana to Florida.
Both Isabel and Josef risk a lot on the way to a new life, and this path is not easy for them. Isabel and her family face all kinds of dangers, such as the threat of imprisonment in a Cuban prison, hurricanes, storms, drowning, sharks, dehydration and starvation (Gratz 74). The burden of waiting, the injustice and the consequences of staying in Dachau are so terrible that people would rather end their lives by suicide than go there again. Therefore, Josef also finds himself in a difficult life situation due to the need to change the country of residence.
The reasons of the outside world that forced Isabel and Josef to leave their native countries are different. A Jewish boy, Josef, flees Hitler’s Germany, and his mother has to make a terrible choice which of the children to save. Even if they make the journey successfully, neither Cuba nor America refuses to accept refugees. Isabel and her family have a chance to escape: Clinton announced that those who have already landed are not subject to deportation (Gratz 131). In addition, unlike Josef, Isabel is not fleeing from the war, but from the political regime, and her race is not being destroyed.
What happens to the heroes’ family is also different. Isabel lost both her friend and grandfather in the open ocean in a few days. However, at the same time she found a younger brother, which allowed the Cuban girl to find hope (Gratz 163). At the same time, 13-year-old Josef’s father goes crazy after Dachau, and the child is forced to watch his family disintegrate.
The main characters of the book Refugee by Alan Gratz are children who have long become adults. Despite the fact that Isabel and Josef are representatives of different countries, different nationalities, and different times, they are united by a thirst for life. The characters must escape from their country to save their lives, but they are at no less risk of death on this journey. Even there is no place for these people in their native country, they have a hope to survive.
Work Cited
Gratz, Alan. Refugee. Scholastic Press, 2017.