Literary Analysis...
PLOT
At the beginning of the book Between Shades Of Gray, a lithuanian family is rushed out of their house in the middle of the night, and forced onto a NKVD(soviet union) transport vehicle, “They took me in my nightgown”(3). The family is scared as a mother with her two kids, Lina and Jonas, is without her husband. Lina is a young teenage girl who has an amazing artistic ability. Joanas her brother is a 10 year old boy who has yet a lot to learn. The transport vehicle picks up more people along the way, some try to escape the vehicle but are unsuccessful. They are taken to a train station and what looks like the whole city boards the train, but in different cars labeled with different and insulting names “Thieves and Prostitutes”(41). Lina, Jonas and their mother are loaded into a cramped car with people they don’t know “The inside of the car was stuffy… People were wedged in everywhere”(31). Every person introduces themselves and lina and jonas become friends with a boy named Andrius who is also without his father. Andrius is close in linas age and is very courageous and handsome. Since the train is stopped there for many hours, Lina and Andrius sneak off the train to go find their fathers “An hour ago, a long train came in...Let’s go look for our fathers”(40). By the time they get back the train is off to a destination they don’t know. While on the journey to an unknown destination some people die from malnourishment “Each day when the train stopped we’d lean out of the car and try to count the number of bodies thrown. It grew everyday”(67). Once the train reaches its destination, everyone gets off and are sitting in their groups waiting to be sold “Mother, why are they selling us?”(85). Linas group is the last to be taken, they are pushed onto a waggon and taken to work camps. The work camp huts are small and in terrible condition “The shack was approximately ten feet by twelve feet”(109). The people are basically worked to death. The rations they get for working each day is a small loaf of bread enough for 3 bites. Lina, her family, and the rest of their group go through the roughest time of their lives together. Towards the end of the story Lina her mom and brother are being moved along with some of the other people from her group. Lina and her brother are sad because they are leaving their friend Andrius “Andrius turned. His eyes found mine. I’ll see you, he said”(248). Adrius kept Lina and Jonas happy in their darkest times.
THEMES
A big theme in this book is courage, through the hard times these people endure they always manage to have courage. When it was christmas and they didn’t have most of their family and had little to no food they meet in a hut and shared stories to give them courage and hope. Another main theme would be love will always find a way. Lina and mother and brother are separated from their father, and they are always finding ways to reach him, their love for him keeps them alive at some points in the story. Lina and Andrius also get separated but end up reuniting in the end their love for each other never dies.
At the beginning of the book Between Shades Of Gray, a lithuanian family is rushed out of their house in the middle of the night, and forced onto a NKVD(soviet union) transport vehicle, “They took me in my nightgown”(3). The family is scared as a mother with her two kids, Lina and Jonas, is without her husband. Lina is a young teenage girl who has an amazing artistic ability. Joanas her brother is a 10 year old boy who has yet a lot to learn. The transport vehicle picks up more people along the way, some try to escape the vehicle but are unsuccessful. They are taken to a train station and what looks like the whole city boards the train, but in different cars labeled with different and insulting names “Thieves and Prostitutes”(41). Lina, Jonas and their mother are loaded into a cramped car with people they don’t know “The inside of the car was stuffy… People were wedged in everywhere”(31). Every person introduces themselves and lina and jonas become friends with a boy named Andrius who is also without his father. Andrius is close in linas age and is very courageous and handsome. Since the train is stopped there for many hours, Lina and Andrius sneak off the train to go find their fathers “An hour ago, a long train came in...Let’s go look for our fathers”(40). By the time they get back the train is off to a destination they don’t know. While on the journey to an unknown destination some people die from malnourishment “Each day when the train stopped we’d lean out of the car and try to count the number of bodies thrown. It grew everyday”(67). Once the train reaches its destination, everyone gets off and are sitting in their groups waiting to be sold “Mother, why are they selling us?”(85). Linas group is the last to be taken, they are pushed onto a waggon and taken to work camps. The work camp huts are small and in terrible condition “The shack was approximately ten feet by twelve feet”(109). The people are basically worked to death. The rations they get for working each day is a small loaf of bread enough for 3 bites. Lina, her family, and the rest of their group go through the roughest time of their lives together. Towards the end of the story Lina her mom and brother are being moved along with some of the other people from her group. Lina and her brother are sad because they are leaving their friend Andrius “Andrius turned. His eyes found mine. I’ll see you, he said”(248). Adrius kept Lina and Jonas happy in their darkest times.
THEMES
A big theme in this book is courage, through the hard times these people endure they always manage to have courage. When it was christmas and they didn’t have most of their family and had little to no food they meet in a hut and shared stories to give them courage and hope. Another main theme would be love will always find a way. Lina and mother and brother are separated from their father, and they are always finding ways to reach him, their love for him keeps them alive at some points in the story. Lina and Andrius also get separated but end up reuniting in the end their love for each other never dies.