Ruta Sepetys’ book Salt to the Sea takes place during World War II and it’s about a group of people that meet up and try to survive with each other. The group is made up of a blind girl named Ingrid, an old man called the Shoe Poet, a pregnant woman named Emilia, a sociopath named Alfred, a “murderer” named Joana, a little boy named Klaus, and a man that stole famous art from the Amber Room named Florian. They have to get to a boat called The Wilhelm Gustloff to get away from the Russians because they are trying to kill them. Two of the secondary characters and two of the main characters die throughout the story. The four protagonists, Joana, Florian, Emilia, and Alfred are aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff and the ship gets shot down by torpedoes when it goes down it brings many lives down with it. While these characters are fighting for their lives, Ruta Sepetys shows that the ultimate sacrifice for others can sometimes mean death.
From the beginning of Ruta Sepetys’ novel Salt to the Sea, the details show everyone’s sacrifices. They are all sacrificing for each other because Hitler and Stalin are trying to kill them all and they are all like family now, so they would do anything to save each other. Sepetys describes from Shoe Poet’s words …show more content…
Alone…. No, insisted Ingrid. If i’m alone, I’ll truly feel the ice….Ingrid’s body suddenly stiffened. Her back arched No! She screamed. Go back!.... And then I heard them: Russian planes strafing overhead…. The firing ceased. I opened my eyes. Streaks of blood surrounded a solitary hole in the center of the ice. Ingrid! I screamed. Ingrid was gone.” (pg. 131) This quote shows that Ingrid said she would lead the group across the ice, because she has better hearing and she screamed at everyone to get down when the planes came, she sacrificed herself for all of