The Key

   The book is called Sarah's Key, and the actual key is a symbol in the book. To me the key is a symbol for how we as people like to try to lock our fears away. We try to ignore them and hide from them; and we think that if we try to lock them up then they won’t bother us. In the book Sarah locks her brother in the closet because she is scared. She has fear of what is going to happen to her family and especially her little brother who she cares for greatly. By locking her brother in the hiding place and her taking the key she thinks that now he is safe, and her fear of what will happen to him is going to go 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. The key does not allow her to have power over her fear by locking them away. There is always a reminder of what you are trying to hide, and it's is not until you come to reality and face the fear you are hiding that you are able to unlock it. Sarah has a key, a key to her secrets, and just like everyone in the world she carries it around with her until she is able to face her worst fear come true. The key in the book shows us that we cannot just try to hide our fears but we have to try to unlock them.
 Another way to look at what the key symbolizes is to think of it as hope. 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. The key is also then symbolic for hope.
Overall there can be many interpretations about what the key symbolizes but these are just my views.