Sarah's Key Social Injustice Quotes

Strength is in the People You Love
“The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other”- Mario Puzo, an American author. A loved one is someone who can be your best friend, your trusted ally, and who can help you through times where you are feeling the impacts of social injustice. Whether it is in school, at work, or in public, your beloved family and community members can be there for you. Social injustice is the discrimination against certain groups based on beliefs. When one experiences social injustice, they need support in order to overcome it. In the historical fiction book Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, the realistic fiction book Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay, and the young adult novel If You

Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson, the authors show that one will look to loved ones during times of social injustice to help them overcome it.
To begin, in the book If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson, in order to push through social injustice Miah and Ellie turn to loved ones. Miah is a black teenager who doesn’t alway feel comfortable in his own skin due to prejudice. When Jeremiah starts to feel the impacts of social injustice, he turns to his father. Jeremiah always has conflicted feelings about being African-American and whether to feel pride or shame. This was because he was discriminated against and lived in a blacks only neighborhood. Furthermore, his grandmother always told him not to be ‘too black’, and Jeremiah felt like he was being treated unjustly, so he sought out guidance from his father, “He wished his grandmother had heard them shouting Black is beautiful. But she hadn’t. And she believed what she said-that a person could get too black. The same way his father believed it every time he said, Miah, you’re a black man. You’re a warrior” (Woodson 8). During the time that his grandmother was making him doubt that he must be proud to be black, his father reassured him it was okay. His father told him to be proud of who he is during times of social injustice. However, during the course of the book, Jeremiah needed to be reminded of this many times. Furthermore, when Ellie also starts to feel the impacts of prejudice while strolling in the park, she turns to Miah for guidance. Ellie gets upset after a black woman suspiciously looks at her and Miah kissing and turns to Jeremiah saying, “You think it’ll always be like this, Miah? The looks and people saying stuff. I hate it. I mean, I really hate it” (Woodson 131). Jeremiah then replies by saying, “Let’s say it’s rain-the people who got problems with us being together-let’s call them and their problems rain” (Woodson 131). Jeremiah comforts Ellie after she is upset due to social injustice. Jeremiah helps her overcome it by telling her that those people do not matter. Ellie feels better after this because Jeremiah, her loved one, helped her during times of unjust treatment. As the story continues, when Jeremiah becomes frustrated with white boys that are making fun of him and Ellie, who is his white girlfriend, he turns to Ellie for guidance. Miah describes, “...walking along Fifth Avenue holding hands when these white boys started acting stupid-saying stuff like “jungle fever” and “who turned out the lights?” Miah clenched his jaw and held tighter to Ellie’s hand. Walk through the rain, Ellie had said” (Woodson 136). Jeremiah turns to Ellie during this time of social injustice and she is able to persuade him to calm down. Ellie held his hand, and did not release it, or give into what the boys were saying. This makes Jeremiah feel as though he is able to tolerate the boys’ unjust actions towards him. All in all, during times of social injustice, Miah and Ellie demonstrate that loved ones will always be there for you.
Secondly, in the book Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay, Sarah and Michel turn to their loved ones to help them power through social injustice.

Sarah and her mother are sought out by the French Police after an order goes out to arrest all French Jews. When Sarah’s little brother starts to feel the pressures of social injustice, he turns to his sister for guidance. Michel did not want to go with the French Police, so he asks Sarah to help him hide in their secret cupboard. Sarah does this because she loves Michel and does not want him to be discriminated against. Sarah, her mother, and her father get arrested for being Jewish and are taken to a concentration camp just outside their hometown. Sarah thinks Michel, her beloved brother, will be safe. She says, “Yes, he’d be safe there. She was sure of it. The girl murmured his name and laid her palm flat on the wooden panel. I’ll come back for you later. I promise” (Rosnay 9). During this time of inequality, where the French were removing Sarah and her mother just because they were Jewish, Sarah’s brother asked her for help. Sarah promised her brother she would be back for him and helped him escape his impending arrest. Sarah’s brother believed her because he looks up to her and loves her. As the story continues, when Sarah falls ill and is in pain, she also turns to her father for comfort, “at one point she had been sick, bringing up bile, moaning in pain. She had felt her father’s hand upon her, comforting her” (Rosnay 55).

Sarah becomes sick because she is being treated poorly and persecuted. Her father put his hand on her, because he knew that his comforting touch would help her. Sarah was sick because she did not have access to any food or water because there were horrible conditions in the concentration camp. Finally, when Sarah escapes from the concentration camp she turns to a neighboring community to help her escape the social injustice she is facing and is welcome into a loving home. Sarah turns to local community members because she needs their help and because they are accepting, they are welcomed with open arms, “Quick, children come now...You are safe here. You are safe with us” (Rosnay 110). Sarah and Rachel turn to Jules and Genevieve when they are facing instability and discrimination, just because they are Jewish. Jules and Genevieve welcome them because they are children and they genuinely care about their safety and well-being. In conclusion, in order to overcome social injustice, Sarah, Rachel, and Michel look towards family and community members.
Finally, in the novel Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, Ruth gets through social injustice by turning to her beloved sister, Isabel.

Ruth is a black slave employed by white loyalists, along with her sister, Isabel. When Ruth does not understand why they face social injustice, she turns to her sister to help her. Ruth laughs at her master, which is prohibited. Ruth’s master, Madam, then turns to beat Ruth, but instead Isabel takes the beating, “Craaack! Lightning struck from a blue sky; Madam slapped my face so hard it near threw me to the ground” (Anderson 33). When Ruth laughs at her master, her master gets extremely upset. Ruth turns to Isabel out of confusion and the master beats Isabel instead, who willingly takes the blame for her loved one. The only reason that her master can beat the girls is because they are black. This is socially unjust because Ruth and Isabel are being discriminated against just because of their race. Furthermore, when Ruth has a seizure, as she is doing chores for her master, her master comes to the conclusion that she is possessed and starts to beat her. Ruth turns to Isabel, and Isabel reacts by protecting her, “I threw myself on top of my sister. The broom came down on my back, once, twice, but it didn’t matter. I had to keep her safe until the storm passed” (Anderson 94). Ruth looks to her sister, Isabel, during times of social injustice. This is because her master is allowed to beat Ruth just because she is black, which is unjust. Isabel

loves Ruth and wants to help her get through this hard time until Madam, their master, has calmed down. Lastly, when Madam treats the girls unfairly, Isabel protects Ruth against her violence and suspicion. Ruth is not allowed to be near the kitchen because ever since she had a seizure, Madam, her master, thinks she is possessed by the devil, “...we kept one ear open for the thud of Madam’s feet on the stairs. When she approached the kitchen, one of us would whisk Ruth down to the cellar” (Anderson 106). Isabel and Becky, a fellow slave, help Ruth when she needs it the most. Becky has grown very fond of the girls and does not want to see them beaten. So, when they hear Madam coming, they quickly hide her because Ruth really needs their help during this time of desperation. To conclude, Isabel and Ruth show that when characters are faced with discrimination they turn to loved ones.
In conclusion, in the young adult novel If You Come Softly, the novel Sarah’s Key, and the historical fiction book Chains, characters turn to beloved members of their communities and families when being treated unjustly. Ruth, who is a supporting character in Chains, turns to her sister, Isabel, during times of discrimination when having seizures. Secondly, in Sarah’s Key the main character, Sarah, and her brother, Michel, turn to their community and family members during times of social injustice. Furthermore, during times of inequality Ellie and Jeremiah, the main characters, turn to loved ones when they are being discriminated against. Social injustice can cause people to turn to the only ones that they can truly trust, which are the people that they love. Your loved ones will always be there for you whether you are being stereotyped, discriminated against, or being treated unjustly. A loved one: someone who supports you, someone who brings you joy, and someone who makes you feel comfortable in your own skin.