3. When Captain Schroeder assures the passengers of Josef's ship that they will not return to Germany, what other plan does he say he will be enacting?

4. What is NOT one thing Josef realizes just after his father's rescue from the ocean?

5. For whom does Josef tear his clothing in recognition of his own loss of the person?

Short Essay Questions

1. What change occurs in Josef's mother's personality once the MS St. Louis leaves Cuba?

2. What about Waleed's reaction to being held at gunpoint worries Mahmoud about his brother even more than before?

3. For what purpose does Josef leave his father Aaron alone in the family's cabin when his mother is asleep?

4. What shocking detail does Mahmoud's father reveal to his family once they have been thrown into the water by their dinghy's destruction on the rocks?

5. What reaction do the other passengers of the MS St. Louis have to Renata and Evelyne being allowed to leave the ship to join their father?

6. Though the narrator states that a few of the refugees Mahmoud sees when boarding the dinghy have backpacks or plastic bags, how are most of the refugees carrying their belongings?

7. How does Mahmoud save his infant sister Hana from drowning after the family's dinghy bursts upon the rocks?

8. For what reasons does Lito take on the role of leading Ivan's funeral ceremony?

9. On the second day of Isabel's journey, it is said that it seems to Isabel and Ivan that everyone has a job but the two of them. What jobs are being handled by the others?

10. Why does Isabel not want to look at the face of her dead best friend Ivan?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the author's use of literary devices such as metaphor, simile, and personification. How are literary devices used by the author in order to support and underscore particular themes and messages within the novel?