Throughout the novel Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, various flashbacks are used by the author to convey the theme that sometimes, the best way to suppress catastrophe is to force oneself to believe. Ruta Sepetys exemplifies the theme through flashbacks by incorporating a memory of Emilia of when her father is about to send her to the Kleists’ farm. As Emilia reflects upon her past as they are about to cross the ice and is reminded of her father by a potato, she remembers, “Father constantly worried about me. He cried when he told me that he was sending me away to the Kleists’ farm in East Prussia for safety. I wanted to cry too. So I assured him that he was right, it was for the best, and that I was not upset. I told him that we would see each other in a couple of years, when the war of winter turned to spring” (147). …show more content…
Since Emilia is the only valuable person her father has left, it is devastating for her father to send her away. However, Emilia decides to force herself to believe these actions are for the best. As she comforts her father with this idea, she is helping them both believe in a better reality and assures herself as well as her father that happiness will prevail. This flashback comforts Emilia in this dire situation in the “war of winter” and essentially develops the thematic message. Moreover, Ruta Sepetys establishes the theme by allowing Emilia to consider her thoughts of happiness in her last moments of life. Towards the end of the book, as Emilia wanders aimlessly in the sea, she starts to hallucinate about her past events in order to reassure herself everything will be alright and thinks, “Mama smiled wide. She kissed me….I raised my face to the sun. My war had been so long, my winters so cold. But I had finally made it home. And for the first time in a long time, I was not afraid”