Sarah's Key : The Exposition/ Chapter 1

 

My Perception of The Book

 

 

In the novel I’m currently reading, it all begins in the past with a young girl who hears people pounding on her door and has no idea what is going on. She assumed it was her father because he frequently forgets his key, but it was not. She became terrified when the people on the other side of the door began screaming that they were the police. She went to wake up her mother, who recognized the situation right away. Her mother was terrified, but she went ahead and opened the door. There were two men standing outside, one holding a list and confirming the mother's name. Only the mother, daughter, and son were present currently. However, after hearing his family scream, the father emerged from his hiding place and joined his family. During this period, many Jewish families were deported from where they had always lived to a camp where all Jews were assembled in deplorable conditions as if they were nothing. They were denied access to water and food, as well as a place to defecate. This group of people was despised by the government.

 

Sarah, the small girl, was heartbroken to see her mother cry; she wanted her to toughen up against these people who didn't want them to succeed. They took the family away without the brother who Sarah had hidden in their closet, hoping she could return to look for him. She had no idea what awaited her. Following that, the book moves forward in time to introduce a family made up of Julia, the mother, Antoine, the father, and Zoe, the daughter, who are planning to rebuild a property that will, I'm sure, be full of surprises. The author continues to surprise me by shifting the tale from the present to the past. This isn't something I'm used to seeing while I read, and you can see the difference because it changes at the end of each chapter. In the book, the handwriting, typefaces (one bold, the other not), and the manner the two stories are written all alter. Each story's two different epochs are easily distinguishable. When I read this novel, there was something that truly drew me in. I was already far into the book without realizing it. I was so engrossed in the novel that I felt eager to learn more. My curiosity compelled me to read past the first few pages. I had to fulfil it, and this book wasn't nearly as horrible as I had anticipated. I had so many questions, like why does the plot alternate between the past and the present? What's the connection between the two? What will become of Sarah's family and her brother, who has been left alone with no one to help him? I have a lot of unanswered questions, that would probably explain why I want to keep reading.

From what I read from the first chapter, I noticed that the subject that stood out the most in the story was the anti-Semitism that Jews experienced in the 19th century especially. The Vel d’Hiv, an event that appeared in Paris and had a great negative impact in France was also included in the story. In my opinion, the author decided to explore the subject of the Holocaust which is the persecution and systematic murder of 6 million Jews, organized by the Nazi state and its collaborators from 1933 to 1945.  Through each of the characters, we can see while reading how much the racism that the Jews received affected them in different ways. If we take for example, Sarah, she’s a ten-year-old who growing up to notice how very nasty our world can be with those who do not fit into their category or standard. She indeed knew she was a Jewish person but didn’t understand why it would be a problem in her life to be Jews. It’s when she starts get hate and intimidation from the people, she always considered to be the same as her that she starts understanding the reality of what Jewish live in her time. Cause yes, the Jews lived a lot of atrocities including racism such as being sent into concentrations camp and being tortured. For the characters in conflicts with each other I would say the Nazi, of course, and the people supporting the Nazi because which is to exterminate the Jews race of the world are against the Jews. Its obvious. Every character deal with this situation in different ways and I’m still trying to understand how.

 

Can I personally identify with any of these conflicts? Both yes and no. I'm black, and I'm well aware of how much my race suffers simply for being who they are. Because I'm aware of the racism that black people face, I can sympathize. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't hear about anything involving black people. If the system doesn't discriminate against us, it's the cops who refuse to do their duties correctly because of irrational prejudices towards black people. But, on the other hand, I can't empathize because, as far as I'm aware, I've never encountered racism in my life. In this novel, the central conflict is Jewish anti-Semitism, racism, and anti-Semitism. As a part of a minor ethnic group, I have not had the same experiences as Jews. Although I was not transported to concentration camps or abused because of my race, I can empathize with them on a sentimental level. Simply because racism still exists, and my race is constantly subjected to it.

 

 

 

THE END