Sarah’s Key

Is it better to keep certain truths hidden? Can certain truths do more harm than good? Many of the Tézacs and other French prefer to remain willfully ignorant of the facts regarding Vel’ d’Hiv’ and the apartment that belonged to Sarah. They feel like to learn the truth would mean a total loss of the self that they thought they knew. William experiences this loss of self when he learns about his mother, Sarah. He finds it necessary to rediscover his history and who he is. This requires a great deal of inner strength and honesty, which not everyone in the novel possesses.

Throughout the novel, truths are kept from Sarah, too. She wishes that her parents would have explained to her more about anti-Jewish sentiment and what was happening at the time. She would have liked to have been prepared for the events a bit more. If her parents had been honest with her, it’s likely that Sarah would have understood that she would never return to the apartment, and that she would not have locked Michel in the cupboard, and instead protected him in the camps. In this instance and others, the willful concealment of truth sets in motion some of the dark events of the novel. 

Both Sarah and Zoë must harden their spirits some during the course of the novel. For Sarah, the only way she can deal with the awful reality of the prisons and death camps is to grow up emotionally and harden the childlike spirit within her. This hardening is what allows her to survive and gives her the courage to make the decisions necessary for her survival. Seeing her brother’s corpse does hardens her to the world and causes her to lose faith in humanity. Zoë, on the other hand, does not over-harden, but toughens enough to become a bedrock of support for her mother Julia. For her, the strength she gains through Julia’s journey will prove useful in her becoming a strong adult.