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. In Between Shades of Gray Lina, her Mother and brother were put into a cramped train by the NKVD and were being taken away to an unknown location. They did not know how long they would be there or what was going to happen but they were scared. Instead of being scared just sitting there in fear the entire train car started to sing. “It grew. Louder. They were singing, singing at the top of …show more content…
In Between Shades of Gray Ona is hysterical after the death of her newborn son. “‘Leave her be,’ said Mrs Rimas. ‘The poor dear is grieving,’ Mother translated to the commander. Ona stood up and stamped her right foot. The commander stepped up and pulled Ona from the truck. She lost all control, screaming, clawing at him. She was no match for his height or strength. He threw her to the ground”(Sepetys 101). Ona suffered from hysteria after her baby son died. She lost control of herself and the commander ended up killing her because of it. In act 3 the girls turn on Mary. They pretend that she is a bird coming to eat their eyes out. “She and all the girls run to one wall, shielding their eyes. And now, as though concerned, they let out a gigantic scream, and Mary, as though infected, opens her mouth and screams with them. Hysteria is contagious so when Abigail started it, the girls followed. Eventually it affected Mary because she started