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Between Shades Of Gray Theme Analysis

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The brutal and immoral treatment of Jewish people during World War II is taught all throughout the world, but few people know about the horrid actions conducted towards the doctors, lawyers, artists, and many other innocent civilians in the Baltic States. The novel, Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys, follows the life of Lina Vilkas and her family as they try to survive the harsh conditions of the Siberian labor camps while also avoiding the violence of the NKVD officers imprisoning them. Their survival, however, was not always due to their own accord, but also came from the compassion and kindness of others. For instance, Andrius Arvydas is a young boy who risks his life and encourages others’ survival. Another example is Lina’s mother, …show more content…

An example of this is when Lina, Jonas, and Elena are getting ready to go onto one of the cattle cars for the first time. Jonas says, “Mother… these cars are for pigs and cows,” to which she responds, “Yes, I know. We’ll have a little adventure, won’t we?” (Sepetys 30). This quote demonstrates the theme because this moment is a very terrifying time for everyone, let alone children. Elena had been previously shown to have moments of unease and panic, but she is currently hiding it for the sake of her children. She tells Jonas it will be a fun trip so he can feel more at ease about the situation around him and not be so petrified of what is to come. Another example of how Elena shows the theme is when she gives Lina and Jonas her food rations. While Lina and Jonas go to gather firewood, Lina starts to question if her mother has eaten anything at all, saying, “Think about it. We’ve seen her nibble, but she’s always giving us bread,” and that is when she realizes, “Mother was starving herself to feed us” (Sepetys 285). The family's current environment is freezing and harsh. In order to survive, one must have a good amount of food and sustenance. However, Elena is giving almost all of her food to her children so they can live. This quote helps show the theme of compassion because her love for Jonas and Lina is causing her to sacrifice herself for their

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Lina and Jonas are a brother and sister that get experience this awful disaster together along with their mother. Their father was taken separately. Although they are heartbroken, all four of them know that no matter what happens, they will love each other unconditionally. The risks that the family takes for themselves and others are unbelievable. Love that was shown for each other is huge along with the people they just met on the cattle car.

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Some of the most atrocious events in history were the genocides of World War II. However, stories of the concentration camps and genocides are quickly being forgotten. Night by Elie Wiesel and Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys illustrate the struggle and beauty of living in concentration camps during World War II. Night follows the story of Elie, a fifteen-year-old boy from a small town in Transylvania, and Between Shades of Gray follows the story of Lina, a fifteen-year-old girl from Lithuania. Even though in Night and Between Shades of Gray, the protagonists face similar struggles to keep their identities, the two books differ in the themes expressed in each book and how the protagonists change throughout the book.

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One example of this is, “Dad yanked out the silverware drawer and hurled the forks and spoons and knives across the room, then picked up one of the chairs and smashed it on Grandma‘s table. Rose Mary, where the goddamn hell are you, you stinking bitch?”(Walls 122). This quote fits the theme because it shows how chaotic Rex is. In the following paragraph it gives another example of the theme.

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Two compelling novels going back to the dreadful past during World War II Holocaust, including the death camps with millions prisoners, The Devil's Arithmetic, by compassionate Jane Yolen, and aggressive Peter Fischl’s poem,”The Little Polish Boy Standing With His Arms Up, are analyzed progressively. Both writings have a similar purpose and meaning. Both of the outstanding writings inform about history repeating.

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Between Shades of Gray is a story about a teenager named Lina and her family being taken from her home in Lithuania and brought to Serbia by the NKVD to then be put into concentration camps. The Crucible is a play about the Salem Witch trials in 1692 where some young girls claim to have been affected by whichcraft. Both these stories have similar themes that develop throughout. Irony, authority and hysteria are some of the themes The Crucible and Between Shades of Gray shares. Both Between Shades of Gray and The Crucible share a common theme of irony.

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The Holocaust, the event in which Hitler’s policy of anti-Semitism led to the murder of over six million Jews, was a horrific tragedy that to this day is a symbol of Man’s Inhumanity to Man. As such a large-scale event, it was inevitable that it would become the subject of many literary works that depict both the cruelty of the perpetrators and the heroism of those who fought for justice. “A Spring Morning” by Ida Fink is a short story about two parents desperately trying to find a way to keep their daughter alive, only to be met with the despair of her death. The events of this story take place during the late 1930s during the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany before the family is actually taken to a concentration camp. “Rescue in Denmark” by

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Night and Day In the great history of man, there is no event committed as gut-wrenchingly ignoble as the Holocaust. Therefore, conveying the devastation and emotional trauma on a believable and personal level is a sign of fantastic writing, which can be seen in Elie Wiesel’s Night. Moreover, to take this awful situation and put an almost light-hearted twist on it is also increasable, which is seen in the film “Life is Beautiful.” Accordingly, both of these mediums portray main characters that are in concentration camps, but present them in varying ways that create stories that feel completely different.

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One example of this is when Lina, the main character, is being seperated from her father and she starts to draw a map of the places that she was going to pass along to her father. During this event, Lina is going through a very tough time and she strives to find a way to get back to her after. Lina shows hope in this situation by drawing a map which she hopes that would one day reach her father even though she still feels the loss of his absence. Another example of the theme is when Lina is taken from her home and forced to work for the people she hates. Lina takes this

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The novel, Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepety has becomes one of the best book I have ever read. In know that can be a cliché statement to make but the novel is truly exquisite. The author put the reader on a page-turning journey through her juicy plot, her unique writing style, and the historical event added to the book. The novel Between Shades of Gray will soon be a classic all will get to know.

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For my book review I chose to read “The Girl in the Red Coat,” a memoir written by Holocaust survivor Roma Ligocka along with some help from Iris Von Finickenstein. This book was originally written in German and published in Germany in 2000 by Verlagsgruppe Droemer Weltbild Gmgh & Co KG. It was then translated to English and re-published by Bantam Dell A division of Random House. Inc. New York, New York in 2002.

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Despite the brave front that Vladek has put in the years following the war, his story remains to be a tale of suffering, agony, and death. The story of Vladek’s survival during the Holocaust is the central aspect of the novel,

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Grace Nixon Dr. Brian Lewis English 2012 22 November 2015 Blanche DuBois: Hero or Villain? What came first, the chicken or the egg? With so many answers and different reasoning for each, this question can be extremely difficult to answer. While reading A Streetcar Named Desire, a play by Tennessee Williams dealing with the struggle of Blanche DuBois to fit in with an ever-changing society after losing her family home of Belle Reve, the reader may be left with a similarly challenging question to answer: is Williams sympathetic towards the character of Blanche, or does he condemn her character and behavior to make a statement to the larger audience about the effects of promiscuous actions?

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This novel is considered an allegory of the Holocaust. There is a similar chain of events leading to disarray when one race thinks it is superior to another. It teaches the danger of discrimination and superiority which results in eradication

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Another example would be, “Then see I won’t be eating. / and trudge home to my beating.” (14, 16). Hudgins uses the words “eating” and “beating” to show that the little kid is about to get punished when he gets home. These quotations also connect as a whole to the theme because they will show people that sometimes certain situations won’t always go the way they want it

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It’s difficult to imagine the way humans brutally humiliate other humans based on their faith, looks, or mentality but somehow it happens. On the novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel, he gives the reader a tour of World War Two through his own eyes , from the start of the ghettos all the way through the liberation of the prisoners of the concentration camps. This book has several themes that develop throughout its pages. There are three themes that outstand from all the rest, these themes are brutality, humiliation, and faith. They’re the three that give sense to the reading.

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