The Room on Rue Amélie

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-9

Chapters 10-18

Chapters 19-27

Chapters 28-36

Chapters 37-45

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

The Impact of Everyday Heroism

The Room on Rue Amélie explores the impact of everyday heroism, illustrating the ways in which different people can contribute to a war effort on the front lines or while still living civilian lives. Thomas, Ruby, Charlotte, and various others take responsibility upon themselves to fight for their country and their beliefs in different ways.

Thomas discovers the importance of the secret civilian Resistance networks when he crashes in the French countryside and is forced to rely on the compassion of strangers to survive. When the farmer Claude tells Thomas, “We are going to win this war, and we need men like you to do it,” Thomas responds, “And men like you” (146). In this moment, Thomas acknowledges that heroism comes in many forms: He realizes that it is not just people in the army who will secure a victory against the Nazis but also people like Claude who help from behind the lines. Later, Ruby has a similar experience when she’s on the run from the work camp and meets a German couple who cares for her until her daughter is born. Ruby and Charlotte also become actively involved in the Resistance by helping pilots like Thomas escape back to Britain after crash-landing.

Ruby and Thomas encounter others in their day-to-day lives who fight oppression in little moments. An Allied airman who freezes when accosted by the Nazis is saved by the timely intervention of an elderly woman, who claims that the airman is her deaf grandson. Her intervention is an act of quick-thinking and selfless risk-taking which saves the young man’s life. Ruby has several experiences in which strangers share their food with her as an act of kindness. When Ruby is accosted in a bakery queue, a woman offers her food and support because she thinks she’s a Resistance member. In the concentration camp, Nadia shares her food so that Ruby’s baby has a chance at growing, even though she herself will go hungry. Nadia and Herr Hartmann also form an escape plan for Ruby even at risk to themselves, with Nadia dying in her efforts to provide effective cover for Ruby’s escape.

Thus, while soldiers like Thomas are often remembered for their service, the novel suggests that the ultimate victory over German occupation was also dependent upon small, anonymous acts of heroism that occurred within and outside of the Resistance’s cell networks. The Room on Rue Amélie thus celebrates civilian resistance efforts to help the Allied war effort.

The Nature of Love During a Crisis

Like most of Kristin Harmel’s novels, The Room on Rue Amélie deals with a period of traumatic, cataclysmic upheaval that has a profound impact on interpersonal relationships. This is first hinted at in the opening chapter, when an elderly Lucien reflects on his relationship with religion: “[W]hat other explanation could there have been for my wife and me finding each other in the midst of such chaos all those years ago?” (8). The novel thus explores the nature of love during a time of crisis.

The romantic love between Ruby and Thomas, and later Charlotte and Lucien, helps the characters endure the challenges and risks of wartime. After an unhappy marriage with Marcel, Ruby finds a more companionate connection in her relationship with Thomas, who respects her as an equal and is impressed by her work in the Resistance. Their love becomes a constant reminder for both of them of what they’re fighting for: a future together in an age of peace. Charlotte and Lucien are also bonded by their shared sense of purpose, working together in the Resistance. As Ruby observes, Charlotte becomes stronger and more positive once she begins “playing a role in saving herself” (318). Lucien enters her life as someone who understands this need to step into battle instead of watching from the sidelines. Together, they help each other become the best versions of themselves.

Platonic love is also just as important as romantic love in the characters’ experiences. Madame Dacher’s maternal love for Charlotte leads her to arrange Charlotte’s escape when the Nazis come to arrest the family; likewise, Ruby’s love for Charlotte as a surrogate mother-sister figure incites her to become fiercely protective of her. Toward the end of the novel, Ruby makes a daring escape and holds her illness back long enough to reach safety, ensuring that her newborn daughter will have a future. The platonic friendships between Thomas and Charlotte, and between Nadia and Ruby, also help the characters to survive: Thomas’s confidence in Charlotte helps her to feel stronger and more sure of herself, while Nadia’s support in the concentration camp renews Ruby’s hope and enables her escape.

In these ways, the novel suggests that while a time of crisis can strain relationships or help forge them, in turn, both romantic and platonic connections also influence how individuals respond to the crisis. For characters like Ruby, Charlotte, Thomas, and the others, their interpersonal bonds are crucial for helping them navigate a time of war and hardship.

The Experience of Identity and Coming-of-Age

Over the course of the story, both Ruby and Charlotte struggle to understand their place in unfamiliar circumstances and a changing world. Both have certain advantages and disadvantages in their journey. Ruby is a capable adult who can make her own choices, yet her voice and mannerisms mark her as an outsider in Paris. Charlotte is at home in the city where she grew up, yet she becomes a victim of both religious and social stigma and her inability to be seen as a young woman.

Although Ruby is an adult, she is still young when her story begins. Although her exact age is never specified, the novel implies she is in her early 20s. She marries Marcel quickly, enamored with the idea of a transatlantic romance before she truly understands who she is. Being pushed aside in her marriage helps her understand what she is not and what she needs so that she can begin building herself back up in the next chapter of her life. Once she takes responsibility for Charlotte, she grows into a new identity as a strong, nurturing figure. Through her relationship with Thomas and her work with the French Resistance, she also learns of a new, deeper kind of love, an essential component in her developing a stronger sense of identity and belonging in France.

Charlotte has to contend with two issues of identity in the novel: her religious identity as a French Jew and her personal identity as an adolescent trying to become a young woman. Charlotte’s wartime experiences are deeply impacted by her Jewish identity, as she is bullied at school, forced to wear a yellow star, and ultimately loses both of her parents to a concentration camp. Charlotte responds to these injustices by becoming determined to join the French Resistance, arguing with Ruby until Ruby finally concedes. Charlotte’s Resistance work also coincides with her developing personal identity and coming-of-age arc. Meeting and falling in love with Lucien adds a new dimension to her life and enables her to develop greater emotional maturity and empathy, as demonstrated when she looks back on Ruby’s unhappy marriage to Marcel with greater insight and compassion.

By the end of the war, both Ruby and Charlotte have developed a robust sense of who they are and what they are capable of. Ruby makes a daring escape from the concentration camp and gives birth to her daughter in safety, while Charlotte marries Lucien and adopts Ruby’s daughter, taking on the maternal role that Ruby once played in her own life. Both women thus learn to be independent and resilient, allowing each to triumph in her own way.