Essay On The Importance Of Knowledge In Sarah's Key

“The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance” -Socrates. In Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay, it is determined that this quote is infact true. In the novel, Sarah a ten year old girl is introduced. Sarah lived in Paris during 1942 when Hitler demanded that all Jews be arrested and sent to concentration camps. Most of the Jews had no clue what was going on, especially in France where the French police rounded up all the Jews and brought them to concentration camps. Major conflicts arise in the novel because of characters lack of knowledge such as: Sarah’s innocence created her lack of knowledge leading to her brother Michel's death, Sarah’s lack of knowledge created a conflict with herself throughout the novel, and finally

Sarah’s parents lack of knowledge played hand in hand with those major conflicts in the novel.

Lack of knowledge created major conflicts for characters in the novel, proving that it is better to know the truth in order to make informative decisions.

Sarah’s innocence lead to her lack of knowledge which created a major conflict, her brother Michel’s death. “She remembered the recent, hushed conversation she had overheard, late at night, when her parents thought she was asleep.” (De Rosnay 1). This quote is significant because it reminds readers that Sarah is only ten years old, and this is common for her parents to be keeping some information from her because they want her to stay and innocence ten year old, and not be exposed to such horrible tragedy. This knowledge did affect Sarah so it is controversial whether or not Sarah should have been told some information, and if she was given some information maybe Sarah would have decided it was best not to lock Michel in the cupboard. She truly did not know that locking Michel in the cupboard was such a horrible idea. This is made clear when Sarah says “ ‘I didn’t know’ she sobbed, ‘Papa, I didn’t know, I thought we were coming back, I thought he’d be safe.” (De Rosnay 57). Not only did this quote show that Sarah did have lack of knowledge which lead to locking Michel in the cupboard, but it also shows that if she had have known earlier that they would

not be back she definitely would not have locked him in the cupboard, which might have saved his life. As the novel continues, the guilt of leaving her brother locked in the cupboard really starts to affect Sarah. Since she was sent to a concentration camp alone she had decided she couldn’t live with the feeling of never going back for her brother, so she escapes the camp. When she escapes she meets a Genevieve and Jules who take her in and help her. Initially she tells them to call her Sirka, but one day she said “ don’t call me Sirka anymore. That's my baby name.” (De Rosnay 132). This quote is very important, because it shows Sarah is starting mature. It is made clear that the more Sarah learns the faster it is making her grow up. The real question is could Michel’s death been preventable? If only Sarah’s parents provided her with some information to at least understand that there was a possibility that they might not be back Sarah probably would not have locked her brother in the cupboard.