Refugee

The three children are all forced to leave their native land because of political upheaval. That upheaval is directly attributable to the dictators running their countries. Images of the men in power hover over the migrants like an evil omen in each of the three stories.

In Josef’s story, portraits of Adolf Hitler hang in many of the common areas of the MS St. Louis. Before Josef’s bar mitzvah in the ship’s social hall, the officiating rabbi asks that Hitler’s giant portrait be taken down. His presence overshadowing a Jewish ceremony is unseemly. Similarly, when a Jewish passenger is later buried at sea, the mourners object to a Nazi flag draping the corpse.

In Isabel’s story, images of Fidel Castro crop up everywhere. When Señor Castillo needs a big, thick piece of cardboard to line the bottom of the emigrants’ boat, he steals a giant poster of Castro. During the journey, the shipmates poke frequent fun at the dictator lying beneath their feet.

Another dictator has created the misery Mahmoud experiences in Syria. Bashar al-Assad rules with an iron fist and likes to see images of himself everywhere, just as Castro does:

 A mural painted on the side of the gas station showed President Assad, his dark hair cut short and a thin mustache underneath his pointy nose.