Analysis Of Kretzsky's Between Shades Of Gray

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Even though it was Kretzsky use of harsh, demeaning, and hateful language towards others project’s his status as a superior (however, in a negative way) being within the camp he had worked in, it was really his ability to empathize with someone else (to lower your status to person that is weak, young, and a women) and the will of showing his weakness to another (without caring who he is talking to, a person he was meant to hate) being, was what truly gave him a high and positive stratum within society. Kretzsky’s major role within “Between Shades of Gray” he was presented with negative language. With each occasion where Kretzsky had used negative language, the negative language prodded him into the category of being “The NKVD”. A person who, is looked negatively upon, through the lense of the western world. A person categorized as abusive, courteous, and heartless. With occasions of him using language that our Ameri-Eurocentric social standards would redeem as detrimental to one’s mental status with an paradigm of Kretzsky being an “NKVD”: “[Kretzsky] pointed back to the stack of grain sacks. The commander walked around, yelling and kicking at [Lina and her mother] to hurry. A snowstorm was coming. “Davai!” yelled Kretzsky.” (Sepetys, p.220) On this occasion when he had said it, Lina and her mother were already low in spirits due to the fact Jonas was ill, and they had no idea of the causation and what could’ve been done. In other words, they felt helpless, low in spirit.