What idea was the author trying to explore in this work? How important is that idea?

      Irene Nemirovsky was trying to explore the idea of survival. Although each of the characters experienced different things throughout the book, the common struggle they all faced was attempting to remain alive. In the story, the chances of being struck by a bomb or a car with a panic-stricken driver were extremely high due to the war. It becomes apparent that it is not only soldiers in the battle fields who are fighting for their lives, but innocent civilians caught in the cross fire as well. I think the concept of survival is important because the threat of death is always around. Particularly in Nemirovsky's novel, loss is expected by the characters who have already gone through tough times. The wealthy characters, however, automatically assume that they will live simply because of their position in society. This obviously isn't the case yet this didn't stop the high class characters from acting as if they were above everyone else.

      Generally, the struggle for survival is what makes Suite Francaise interesting. This is because as readers we are always questioning whether or not the people in the novel will make it out alive. In the end, it becomes obvious that not all of them do, but the lessons we take from their attempts to escape death are what stick with us.