Salt to the Sea is a novel told from four perspectives. Each of them is haunted and hunted by something. This book takes place during World War Two. Due to a Soviet advance on the German border the four teenagers are desperately fleeing from the land. Historically during this time period, Germany had broken the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact and in 1941 invaded Russia. Stalin was took off guard and German offenses nearly reached Moscow. Enraged Stalin fought back hard. Russia and Germany fought in some of the bloodiest battles of the war. Near these battles are where the novel takes place. The events in the book barely compare to the historical events as it they talk about minor battles that took areas and most of the action so far is with lost troops. They mostly compare as Russia attacks Germany and there are a lot of battles. Most of the people in the border wanted the fighting to stop. It was destroying their property, resources, and well being. People from Russia were angry of a surprise attack and wanted revenge. People from Germany felt the Russians were bloody and evil destroying everything and taking anything they could over. There are four characters in the novel. Three of the four appear to want the fighting to stop and are against both Soviets and Germans. The other one is strictly German wanting to help Germany and believes that Germany has the better cause. He often daydreams to Hannelore on how brave he is despite being obviously coward. The book goes into how cold and harsh the conditions are similar to how bad weather and disagreements between officers and Hitler slowed down their forces. In the book even from the very beginning the author goes into how horribly cruel the weather is by saying "She was dead, frozen solid..." (Sepetys 2). The History Channel puts that in to context by saying "...and the impact of the surprise invasion helped Germans get within 200 miles of Moscow by mid-July. Arguments between Hitler and his commanders delayed the next German advance until October when it was stalled by Soviet counteroffensive and the onset of the harsh winter weather." (History Channel 2017). Overall, Salt to the Sea compares to the real events occurring at the time.
This is the History Channel article I used http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history
8 Comments
4/27/2017 04:51:13 am
What do you think will happen in the book in the future?
Reply
Luke
4/27/2017 06:43:38 pm
I have progressed a little further in the book and where I am at now I can predict fairly well what will happen. Since one of the characters noticed the name and said it was the same name as a Nazi from a different country who was murdered she already foreshadowed the ship may sink. Randomly in the book Emilia (one of the four perspectives) mentions to herself that she can't swim so it also helps foreshadow the sinking of the ship. Finally, the book is called "Salt to the Sea" which leads me to the conclusion that the ship will sink and the four will be trying to stay alive and get to safety in the future.
Reply
Gu edgar
4/27/2017 04:51:23 am
It is really good it helps me understand ww2
Reply
4/27/2017 04:51:53 am
This is very well written blog, but I still am confused about the book. Do the characters work together, or is this book, in a way just telling the story of WW2?
Reply
Luke
4/27/2017 06:37:28 pm
The characters are all individuals that accidentally meet up fleeing from the front with mass destruction. At first they all couldn't care less about each other but as the novel has progressed, they start to group together and watch out for each other.
Reply
Cooper Rideout
4/27/2017 06:34:27 am
Your blog is very detailed and well written and helps me understand the theme of the book. However i believe that you could have been more concise.
Reply
Abby
4/27/2017 03:08:16 pm
This post is really descriptive of what is going on in the book. Why do you think the author used 4 different perspectives?
Reply
Luke
4/27/2017 06:39:05 pm
The author probably used four perspectives because each character has a different view on what's happening and are hunted by a separate thing. The characters are all from different backgrounds as well
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
May 2017
Categories |