Sarah's Key Analysis

Simple memories can change one’s personal character entirely. They are the building blocks that form an individual’s personality and beliefs. Once they are cemented into one’s mind they cannot be removed, even if they are unwanted. In Tatiana de Rosnay’s A Secret Kept and Sarah’s Key, characters suffer traumatic experiences and cope with them through denial. This only leads them into feelings of betrayal, personal isolation and regret. When the truth is painful, those who attempt to forget past experiences by ignoring reality, face worse consequences in the future. Throughout the novels in order for characters to hide the truth from themselves, they must keep it from others as well. Subsequently these secrets tear apart relationships and cause

When Sarah attempts to escape her past she lies to her new family about her true identity. When Julia finds Sarah’s son in Italy she discovers; “As I watched Williams puzzled face, his anxiety, I felt as if I knew. No, she had not told them. She had not revealed her childhood, her origins, her religion. She had made a break from her terrible past. That was why she had never written to the Daufaur’s, that’s why she never told her son about who she really was. In America she had wanted to start a new life” (238-239) Sarah chooses to live a false life and lie to the people she loves, rather than live a life containing her painful past. In the end, Sarah’s secret results in her son’s depression and prevents him from having any form of relationship with his mother. Julia is another victim of secrecy. All along her family is aware of Sarah’s story and how she had personally witnessed her brothers dead corps in the cupboard of Julia Jarmond’s new apartment. They believe obliterating such a memory from their lives is the best way to move on, therefore Julia was never told. Many years later she discovers this secret and dedicates her life to trying to find Sarah. She reveals; “I wanted to say sorry. I wanted to tell her I could not forget the roundup, the camp, Michael’s death, and the train that had taken her parents away forever. I wanted

Throughout the novel A Secret Kept, character’s attitudes change with discounted memories. When Antoine’s mother passes away their family loses bonds with each other and must lock up their painful feelings. Antoine reveals, “I remembered after my mother’s death, how he clammed up, how the tender kisses stopped, how he became demanding, inflexible, how he criticized, how he judged, how he made me feel wretched” (286). Hiding such an unbearable experience only allowed it to grow bigger. His inner pain demolishes the happiness he once had and changes his personality entirely. He loses the relationship with his family and takes out his emotions on his son. Many others are affected by this death as well, such as Antoine’s grandmother. She knows something no one else does and that prevents her from speaking. Antoine states “I could see it in her eyes. That pain and desire to tell us the truth. However, as the minute’s crawled by, I began to understand that my grandmother will never speak, that she will take what she knows to her grave” (228). Even on her death bed the grandmother is unable to confess what she knows. She has kept this secret inside of her for so long she is no longer able to talk. She feels separated from everyone around her and will die a lonesome death. In this case, secrecy not only tears apart relationships but also destroys