Throughout Exodus, the characters face adversities on every side, and yet the novel is a story of resilience and survival in the midst of all those challenges. This is true in almost every historical and geographical context addressed by the book. During the late 1800s, the narrative follows two young refugees expelled from the Pale by violent pogroms. In the early 20th century, it focuses on the adversities facing the small Jewish settlements in Palestine, which face not only resistance from their immediate neighbors but also governmental repression and the difficulties of producing arable land from swamps and deserts.

As Ari describes the condition of life at home in Palestine, “Every year we come to a crisis which is sure to wipe us out—then we go on to another crisis worse than the last” (25). During the World War II years, the novel follows children affected by the Holocaust—one, a refugee who must leave her family behind (Karen), and another, who faces the violence of the ghetto, the extermination of his family, and a life of perpetual trauma in Auschwitz (Dov). Even after the war is over, the novel’s characters still face major challenges: First as refugees imprisoned in British encampments, and then as settlers who must contend with Arab and British hostilities in Palestine.