Estrangement
Each of the emigrants presented in this narrative have suffered severe estrangement. Having left their birth culture, they all struggle with the desire to hold onto their native traditions. For Selwayn, for example, the gradual integration of English values and culture into his mind is nearly unbearable. Every British idea he learns replaces a treasured Lithuanian idea, compromising his sense of identity. Not only does he feel alienated within his new country, but he also feels increasingly estranged from his home country. This divisive process is augmented in Bereyter's situation because he already felt the pain of losing touch with a native culture, being a Jew in Germany. When he survived the war in relative peace, he felt guilty for not being recognized as a Jew. He would have surely died or suffered severely if the Nazis had considered him Jewish enough, but instead he was allowed to serve in the army like every other German citizen. Feeling mischaracterized and estranged from his own culture which was under attack, Bereyter eventually cannot move past the injustice done him personally by the impossible Nazi standards of ethnic classification.
Depression and Loneliness
These two come hand in hand almost exclusively. Due to their cultural estrangement, each of the main characters in this book deal with extreme loneliness. In addition to homesickness, they lack people who can understand their values and their identification with certain cultural values from their native countries. Ferber's story illustrates this idea particularly well because he cannot find a person to truly understand his suffering. He becomes depressed by pursuing his art, which is all motivated by a desire for empathy. He wants to make his patrons recognize his deep pain over the loss of his parents, his homeland, and his childhood, but he cannot. The pain of admitting that nobody really is able to identify with his suffering makes Ferber depressed.
The Preservation of Memory
In their own unique ways, all four of these men work hard to preserve the memories of their homelands. Selwyn does so by holding onto his cultural values from Lithuania. Unfortunately this causes him to lead a maladapted life, growing more and more isolated and paranoid. While preserving his culture is an important function of Selwyn's emigration, he fails to reconcile his past with his present, preferring only the past. Ferber also feels a desperate need to preserve his memories of Germany because of the loss of his parents. He uses his art to unlock repressed memories, seeking advice from his parents' memories.
