Refugee
In the book, Refugee, all the characters experience power in different ways and that power changes for each of them. All three of the characters have to take care of their families. Josef and his family flee Nazi Berlin in 1938. Josef has to take over for the family because his father gets ill. The father used to make the decisions and take care of the family until he got ill. Josef then had to make the plan of escape for the family. Josef has to figure out what the family will do next.
Isabel and her family leave Cuba to go to Miami. Isabel’s grandfather does all the work for the family. Isabel knows when to help, like when she traded her instrument for an oil cans. The journey was rough. At one point the boat is surrounded by sharks and water in the boat is up to the family’s knees. Isabel knows when she has to do something and she’ll do it. She’s very young. She makes sacrifices for the family, like when she gave the kitten her food and then she didn’t eat at all. Isabel gets more respect after giving up her trombone for the cans and saving Senior Castillo.
Mahmoud and his family flee Syria in 2015. Mahmoud had to take care of his whole family, including his siblings. He went through traumatizing times when a soldier got hit in the face right in front of the whole family. Mahmoud had to save his family from dying at times which meant that he had a place of importance in his family and had to know the responsibilities to take care of someone.