What Makes Mama In A Night Divided

A great character means a lot of different things. It could mean a character that readers relate too or it could mean a character who had a positive influence in the story. Mama has proven to be one of the book's greatest characters in Jennifer A. Nielsen's novel A Night Divided. Mama is not just a character readers like but an important and beneficial character as well. In the novel Mama demonstrates this through her character development, personality, significance to the story, and her relatability and viewpoint. Mama consistently demonstrates why she is the best character in the book because of these factors allowing readers to recognize Mama as the best character in the novel.

In the novel A Night Divided, Mama's love for her family stands

As the narrative progressed, Mama had a discovery that forced her to confront the reality she had always wished to keep hidden. At first, she remained stubborn and kept herself out of trouble. In the beginning, Mama believed that moving to the west would only cause her children to experience hardships similar to those she endured. Mama made a position for what she thought was best for the kids and remained persistent on the subject because she was afraid her kids would be malnourished and miserable if they gave up everything they had in the east. Following Mama's separation from Papa and her middle child Dominic, an unbearable pain overcame her, driving her to do everything in her power to avoid getting into trouble. This advanced in a number of ways as she persuaded Gerta to join the pioneers and developed into a model citizen for the neighborhood. The text states “Mama carefully made sure we did everything that might be expected of a good East German family.”(Nielsen 21). Moreover, as Gerta recelects on her mothers actions, readers realize that Mama will do everything in her power to stay out of trouble. This is the reason Mama had put Gerta in the pioneers and the reason she gets angry whenever Gerta is unnecessarily reckless. Unsurprisingly, things became worse for Mama and her family as a result of Papa's reputation as a traitor. Gerta, Fritz, and Mama all

Due to her experiences during World War Two, Mama's perspective throughout the novel was impacted. The fact that Mama suffered from starvation during the war caused her to not want to travel to the west is a prime illustration of this. The text shows “And I won't let them take my children into a camp. We're not beggars.’”(Nielsen 9). Mama doesn't want to be in a situation where they don't know where their next meal is coming from or where to go, leaving the east would cause them to feel lost and alone. This stems from both Mama's past experiences and her love for her children. Even though Mama was aware that life in the east wasn't ideal she still thought it was preferable than going through the difficulties of leaving. Throughout the novel Mama was often called a coward for not facing her fears and going to the west but Mama had never wanted for their family to get split up.Mama had also felt the suffering of being separated from her family. Readers already understand how difficult it was for Mama given how Gerta's separation from her and her father had damaged Gerta. But Gerta was unable to comprehend her mother's suffering, until the conclusion of the book, when both Gerta and the readers discover that Mama had endured just as much as the entire family had with the separation of their family. Gerta and Mama both recognize something in this situation. Mama comes to the