Sarah's Key Quotes

When the right words are fitted together in a sentence, they can sometimes describe a scene so vividly that an image comes to mind, an instance where the reader can visualize what is occurring. In Sarah’s Key, descriptions are used to describe the physical appearance of a character which deepens the audience’s understanding of that character. The following is the first description given of Sarah’s father: “A man appeared in the doorway, a thin man with crumpled clothes, an unshaven chin, and red, tired eyes. He walked through the courtyard, holding himself straight” (Rosnay 19). From this description, the reader can visualize the character, a worn man in the doorway, leaving his hideout cellar, moving through the courtyard without visible

After Sarah escapes the unsanitary camp with Rachel, the two run until they find a place of beauty. “In the late afternoon, they came to a forest, a long, cool stretch of green leafiness. It smelled sweet and humid….a mysterious emerald world dappled with golden sunlight….The water felt wonderful to her skin, a soothing, velvety caress. She wet her shaved head, where the hair had started to grow back, a golden fuzz” (Rosnay 99). This description places images in the mind of the reader that allow for the reader to experience this moment in the forest with Sarah. Vivid descriptions of places and events are more common within Sarah’s story, as she is experiencing the horrors of the war, allowing the reader to visualize the tragedy through the descriptions in a book. Soon after the arrest, Sarah and her family are thrown into the Velodrome d’hiver with other Jews, where a woman jumps from “the highest railing” with her child in hand: “From where the girl sat, she could see the dislocated body of the woman, the bloody skull of the child, sliced open like a ripe tomato” (Rosnay 33). This description captures the horrifying sight Sarah has just witnessed, darkening the mood and tone of the book alike to the depressing events that occurred within the