Anya’s Unit 1: Close Reading
Dear Ms. Kannan,
Between Shades of Grey is a historical fiction novel set in 1941 during the holocaust. The protagonist, Lina, is a 15 year old girl living with a happy, healthy family in Lithuania. One night, the soviet police are banging at their door whilst her mother is hurriedly telling Lina and her brother, Jonah to pack up their belongings while pleading the guards to give them time. Time’s up and they’ve been thrown into carts on the way to Siberia. Because Between Shades of Grey is set in the holocaust, this isn’t a story of one girl, one family, it is a story about the revolving matters, zooming in and out of Lina’s story. For many during the holocaust, hope was their only escape from reality and hope required major changes in beliefs and lifestyle.
In Between Shades of Grey, from the beginning, it was clear that hope would be a continuous factor, throughout, changing ideas of values and morals. What the novel went into was how Lina’s perspective on everything, would need to be adjustable for what she has ahead of her. When hope is all that is left, morals and values change. This is the cause and effect. As the novel enters darker times we see Lina’s memories in
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This conversation was towards the very end of the book, in which we were able to see a clear moment of realization for Lina. Her hate had suddenly been less vague. Because there was close to no hope left in Lina’s soul after her mother died. The reason her morals are changing towards the end is because when there is close to no hope left, only then people have really started to think about reality and what is the true identity of those. Just before Lina’s mother dies she tells Lina that Kretzsky is only a boy. If everyone had been flexible to new morals, no doubt many people wouldn't have a peace of mind. They would have nothing to place their beliefs in. Nothing to place hope