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Atone For Their Actions By Alan Gratz

1205 Words5 Pages

Atoning for Their Actions Regret, guilt, heartbreak, atonement–what do any of these ideas have in common? Some refugees experience feelings based on obstacles they encounter on their journeys to safety. Alan Gratz exhibits the sacrifice some refugees made and the guilt some may have felt. In this novel several characters atone for earlier actions, while some never get to. First, in Josef's story, Ruthie wants to pay forward her brother's sacrifice. During the Holocaust, Josef and his family must return to Europe because no other country takes them. When they returned back they had a few short months of peace before they were on the run again from the Nazis. Ruthie and her mother and brother were hiding in a schoolhouse when the German stormtroopers …show more content…

Throughout the story, we find out that Lito was one of the guards in St.Louis. On St.Louis. Lito played with Josef and Ruthie until he made a comment that mocked the Jews. Lito was overwhelmed by guilt because he kept the Jew in St. Louis, and he wanted to atone for his action. At the beginning of the story, Lito ended up telling Isabel “Manana”. Manana meaning tomorrow in Spanish, Lito told Isabel tomorrow as he did to the Jew in St. Louis. In different actions, Lito said "Manana” to Isabel. When he said manana the memories from the ship rushed back. Lito struggled throughout this novel with flashbacks of the past of St.Louis. At the end of Isabel's journey, there were almost to the United States shore. Lito knew that if they could make it to the land they were to be concerted free. The whole family other than the mother rowed as the Coast Guard closed in on them. Lito broke at this moment and protested everything that had happened with St.Louis, blaming it on himself, saying “Don’t you see…The Jewish people on the ship were seeking asylum, just like us”(Gratz 276). During this breakdown Lito had a calmness come over him. Lito saw everything at this moment, the past, the present, and the future of his life, and came to a decision. He realized that everything in life had happened around him and he had never done anything to change his own life. Lito then jumped into the ocean, everyone studded and confused about what exactly just occurred. Papi realized Lito jumped off the boat to make sure that the rest of the family could arrive in Miami free and safe. Lito’s way of atoning for what he had done to the Jews in St.Louis. This way he helped his own family, which is something he could not do with St.

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