Refugee Alan Gratz Sparknotes

Josef. An adult. At least that’s what he thought of himself after his Bar Mitzvah, but the others thought otherwise. In the book Refugee by Alan Gratz, the author thoroughly explains how Josef goes from wanting to be an adult, to being an adult. Throughout the trauma his family experiences, Josef changes as a character; initially, he is angry and impulsive, as he pretends to be in adulthood. But the unforgettable, terrible things that happen to him and his family change him. He goes from wanting to be an adult but not really trying to be one, to being an adult without even noticing it. Josef starts out in the book being self interested and greedy, convincing himself he is an adult only because of his age, determined to prove his

‘“I’ll be a man soon enough,”’ Josef told them (the Nazis). “I’ll be a man in six months and eleven days.” The soldiers broke into his house and took Aron to a concentration camp. He tries to fight them off and tell them that they should listen to him, just because he is going to be a “man”soon.“Don’t be so quick to grow up, boy (Josef)”Brownshirt said (29). A week into their stay on the boat, St. Louis, Josef has his bar mitzvah but it is not what turned him into a man. Josef thinks that just because he had his Bar Mitzvah, he is automatically a man. But, he’s not. Josef needs to prove himself to society before he actually mentally becomes one. Rather than hiding or using his age to ask for mercy, (actions of a child), he insists that he is almost an adult which is an example of his wish to be an adult without acting like one. Josef portrays himself as an adult but he really isn’t one. He gets selfish and greedy and only wants what's best for himself. “(Had)….turned them into monsters. Josef had seen it happen….. and all because he’d taken off his armband (shows people that they are Jewish) to walk around a train and buy a newspaper! He and his mother and sister would be put off the train, maybe even sent to

Not just portray himself as a man just because he had his Bar Mitzvah. “Josef saw what he had to do. He slapped his father across the face. (Hard). Papa staggered in surprise, and Josef felt just as shocked as his father looked. Josef couldn’t believe what he’d just done.”Six months ago, Josef would have never slapped his father let alone anyone else”(133). He had stepped up and done it. He stood up for himself so his father would be safe. Josef was now an adult. It’s almost like Josef and his father had traded places.“I don’t remember much about him,(Josef) but I do remember he (Josef) always wanted to be a grown-up. ‘I don’t have time for games,’ he would tell me. ‘I’m a man now.’ And when those soldiers said one of us could go free and the other would be taken to a concentration camp, Josef said, ‘Take me’”(315). Josef, someone who was selfish and greedy, who only wanted what’s best for himself, had turned into a true adult. He sacrificed his future and his life for his family. And he did all of that without realizing that he was actually acting like one, like a true adult would do. To reflect, Josef and his father had switched places and Josef sacrificed himself for his sister. This is a true reflection of Josef being an adult, because he is one. Before he was just a child acting like an adult, but now he is a true