Salt to the Sea

Salt to the Sea is a coming-of-age story, though the characters grow up at a pace much faster than young people who are not living through a war. Since the path to adulthood for the protagonists is both accelerated and distorted by the conditions of warfare, their maturation process is measured by internal growth; although they do travel a literal path to the port of Gotenhafen, which is no easy feat, their life-altering transformations occur by dealing with traumatic wounds and facing heartbreaking loss. Disclosing the secrets that keep them tied to their painful histories and creating new bonds with one another is ultimately what allows them to grow into adulthood, regardless of age.

At 21, Joana’s growth has been stunted by trauma and guilt; she matures by taking care of others, willing even to risk her own life to save them. Joana’s coming-of-age story is rooted in her relationships with Florian and Emilia. She parents Emilia through the end stages of her pregnancy; then, she and Florian develop a romantic bond and become parents to Emilia’s baby and the little boy after Emilia and the shoe poet die.

Florian’s emotional journey to adulthood begins when he accepts the truth about Dr. Lange; later, he allows himself to develop brotherly affection for Emilia and romantic feelings for Joana, which forces him to reveal himself and become vulnerable. Initially self-centered, Florian grows to recognize the priceless value of human connection, and he risks his own life to save others when the Gustloff is sinking.

Emilia’s coming of age is painful and profound; she loses her mother at nine years old, then her homeland is taken over, and then she is gang raped by Russian soldiers. Allowing herself to love Florian, Joana, and the others and to attach to her newborn child helps her heal old wounds and grow stronger and more mature. When the ship is sinking, Emilia heroically saves both her baby and the little boy and even tries to save Alfred, who has tried to kill her upon discovering she is Polish. Emilia elegantly makes the final rite of passage to death in peace, while Alfred, who refuses to face reality and grow up, dies in a lonely and immature state of delusion.

For people in countries directly influenced by Hitler and Stalin—both of whom perpetrated war crimes based on arbitrary, pseudoscientific theories about identity—their cultural background was a matter of life and death. Depending on one’s nationality, religion, social status, and physical ability, identity was something to conceal, fabricate, forge, and even steal. Trusting another with one’s identity was a tremendous act of faith. Florian, Joana, Emilia, and Alfred all hide aspects of their identities, and, during the course of the narrative, each is required to defend and expose their true identity in order to make progress on their journeys.

Joana’s Lithuanian identity and German heritage earn her “desirable” Aryan status; her professional nurse identity gives her further privilege. However, Joana’s identity is a source of guilt. She hates that girls such as Emilia are arbitrarily assigned “worthless” identities and can easily be killed.

Emilia’s Polish identity is something she must hide, along with the true story of her pregnancy. Instead of owning her identity as a victim of rape, Emilia creates a false identity as August’s fiancé. Later, when crossing the checkpoint to Gotenhafen, Joana gives Emilia the dead Lithuanian woman’s identification papers, using a false identity to avoid arrest. Emilia refuses to hide her identity forever. When Alfred tries to attack her in the lifeboat, she screams, “I am Polish” (361). Owning her identity finally brings Emilia relief from emotional suffering, and she dies peacefully, knowing she can finally go “home.”

Poor Alfred is not as lucky. Not only does he fabricate a false public identity as a valued member of the Nazi party, he also makes up a personal identity as Hannelore’s boyfriend. Alfred believes his lies to the extent that he rejects his own mother and is isolated from everyone, including himself. In his final dramatic scene, delusional Alfred chants his propaganda-inspired song and attacks Emilia in a fit of rage. When she reaches to steady him, he recoils and falls into the water, ending a life disconnected both from itself and the world.