ARP Writing Folder - Symbolic Model
Book: Sarah’s Key

In the novel Sarah’s key, the key appears in many parts. This key seems to have many different meanings throughout the book. At the beginning of the book when Sarah locks her brother Michael in the cabinet she does this to protect him and save him. Once Sarah is in the concentration camps her key symbolizes hope of the future, hope that her brother is safe and alive and the hope of escape. Sarah carries around the key with her everywhere she goes and this is a little piece of hope that her brother is safe and may be alive. She used the key in hope that her brother would be safe and one day she will find him. We all have a little piece of hope in our lives that we turn to when we need it. Sarah never let go of the key just like how she never lost hope or ambition to get back to her brother. The key is her only hope that her brother is alive and she hangs on to it until the day she dies. Another way to look at what the key symbolizes is to think of it as a symbol of how we lock our fears away. By locking her brother in the cabinet and her taking the key she thinks that he will be safe, and her fear of what will happen to him is gone away. When she later learns that they will not be returning home the key is a constant reminder of what she did; she instantly becomes afraid and worried about her brother Michael every time she sees it. This symbolizes that there is always a reminder of what you are trying to hide, and