Courage In Sarah's Key By Tatiana De Rosnay

Have you ever found courage to stand up to someone whose decision could change your life? Well, several characters in the book Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay have. Some had to find courage in situations we could never imagine. Throughout the book Sarah’s Key, Tatiana De Rosnay portrays the theme of courage, shown through Julia and her husband’s issues, as well as Sarah and her bravery to stand up against a French guard. Courage is also shown through Jules and Geneviève when they keep Sarah and Rachel in their home with the risk of being caught by the Nazis. Sarah is a stubborn ten-year-old girl who was arrested on July 16th, 1942 along with her family during the Vel’ d’Hiv roundup. Before she is arrested, she locks her younger

First, Bertrand tells Julia not to worry so much about what happened during the Vel’ d’Hiv’, because it doesn’t matter anymore. But, Julia did what she thought was right, learning more about the Vel’ d’Hiv’ even though Bertrand said it didn’t matter. Then later on, Bertrand told Julia that he didn’t want her to have the baby. When Bertrand told her to abort the baby, Julia couldn’t come to terms with aborting the baby, so she keeps the baby. “‘I didn’t do it,’”(Rosnay 202), Julia tells Bertrand, who is not happy with her decision, and puts the blame on her making her feel guilty about not caring about his needs. Immediately after, Bertrand then finds out about all of the information that Julia found about Sarah and the connection with his father that he doesn’t know about. “‘Why did you have to bring all this back? This stuff happened sixty years ago! It’s all dead, it’s all forgotten.’ I swung around to face him. ‘No it isn’t. Sixty years ago something happened to your family,’”(Rosnay 206). Julia has the strength to tell Bertrand that what happened sixty years ago is important and that it is not forgotten, which proves the power of courage shown throughout the book. Just like Sarah has courage to help her persuade the policeman to let her escape, Julia has courage to stand up against her husband for the baby and everything she researched, as well as courage like Jules and Geneviève have, letting Sarah and Rachel in their home with all the risks that come with it, these characters prove that courage is a major theme in the book. Throught the storyline, the theme of courage pops up many times, showing that this was what the author, Tatiana De Rosnay, wanted to portray. Therefore, believe in the courage within