'Between Shades Of Gray By Ruta Sepetys The Lottery'

Imagine being forced out of your own home, and put into harsh and dirty prison camps. Having only 3 grams of bread a day and working from sunrise to sunset. With very little communication, and disease and death all around, these camps were almost a death trap. Hundreds died and everyone suffered. Between Shades of Gray is about WWII and the life of a teenage girl living in these circumstances. Lina Vilkas, a strong, blue eyed, 16 year old girl, has to persevere and stay positive in order to withstand these conditions. Between Shades of Gray is a fictional book written by Ruta Sepetys. The Lottery, a short story written by Shirley Jackson, relates to this book in many ways. It is about a small town, where a lottery is held every year and the

The NKVD soldiers are very disrespectful and have no regard for human life. They treat the Lithuanians with no respect and express cruelty towards them, in a very casual way. One example of this is when Ona is shot by an NKVD officer. Lina says, "Ona stood up and stomped her right foot. The commander stepped up and pulled Ona from the truck...The commander pulled out a pistol and shot Ona in the head." (101) This is an example of cruelty. Ona is grieving about her dead baby, and is punished for her actions, and in result, she is killed. There are many other examples of cruelty in Between Shades of Gray. Later, an NKVD officer laughs at a group people that froze to death during the snowstorm. Lina says, "He was laughing. Those people died and Ivanov was laughing." (288) Another example of the NKVD's cruelty, is the way they treat Mrs. Arvydas, Andruis's mother. Lina asks Andrius why he is staying in the NKVD building. He then tells Lina, "They threatened to kill me unless she slept with them." This shows that the NKVD has no regard for the Lithuanians. This also exaggerates the casualness of the NKVD's actions, and the cruelty of Joseph Stalin and his secret army, the NKVD. This relates to the townsfolk in The Lottery. The Lottery is about a lottery where the winner had to face death. The Lottery is very cruel thing and relates to Between Shades of Gray in many ways. An example of this is when Tessy is having stones thrown at

In The Lottery, the older generation represents the majority. They support the lottery and agree with the tradition that has been passed down for many years. The younger generation, represents the minority, and they want to abolish the lottery. They feel that it is cruel and unnecessary in their town. An example from the younger generations point of view is when Mr. Adams shares his thoughts about the lottery. He heard that in other towns they have been discussing about ending the lottery. He says, "They do say...that over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery." Mr. Adams, a young man, is curious about the thought of ending the lottery, and how it would affect their lives in the future. This upsets Old Man Warner, he says, "Nothing but trouble in that." No matter how many times Mr. Adams tries to talk about abolishing the lottery, he is immediately shut down by Old Man Warner. This shows how the younger generation is the minority, and how they believe the lottery is a very cruel thing. This relates to the NKVD soldiers and their feelings toward their job. One officer that enjoys his work is Officer Komorov. Komorov is very disrespectful to Lina and other women. The Lithuanians are asked to sign papers, sentencing themselves to 25 years of prison. None of them decided to sign the document. This made the officers