Trapped in a world
full of terror, starvation, and dictatorship. Controlled by young men who will
do anything to make you miserable. Eating nothing but a few pieces of bread
every day, after working for up to 12 hours straight. This was the sad life for
many innocent Jews during the Holocaust. Many people died from illness and
starvation, while others were thrown into gas chambers and tortured to death.
Eventually, the only ones that were left were those that truly believed
everything could go back to how it was before the Holocaust.
In Between Shades of Gray, Lina and her family
were one of these families that was taken from their homes, from everything
they ever knew, and forced to work in labor camps. They have a firsthand
experience in the everyday horrors that occurred in the Holocaust. Living
through this terrible time is something that I can only dream about.
In the beginning,
Lina is living a seemingly perfect life. Money, food, and art supplies are
plentiful and she has opportunities blossoming for her in the art world. But
when the NKVD's practically knocked down her door and shipped her and her
family away in cattle cars, she was left confused and terrified.
As if being packed
into a tight space with very little air isn't enough, Lina is separated from
her father. When she finds out he's in prison far, far away, it gives her even
more motive to find a way to contact him. Since the NKVD's read all mailed items,
she decides to communicate through art. In the story it says, "I had to
speak. I'd write everything down, draw it all. I would help Papa find us."
The idea of passing along letters to try and reach an endpoint of her father's
jail is similar to the idea of the Underground Railroad in the civil war. Both
include hiding items or people and
passing them along from "station to station," while hiding them from
the enemies.
One of the most
intimidating events in the story is when Ona gets shot. The poor woman's baby
died, and she is grieving; perhaps a little too loud. The guard standing by
gets annoyed, drags her out and shoots her in the head. Lina is absolutely
shocked. It is at this point when she
starts realizing the severity of what's happening in this war. Visions of
stacked corpses, and a repeating image of Ona's death begin disturbing her.
However, instead of being the type of person to want to sacrifice her own life
so she wouldn't have to live through this torture, she picked herself back up
and became even stronger.
Towards the end of
the book, even though she is skinnier, less healthy, and weaker, she has a
stronger heart. Instead of saying positive things just so her brother Jonas
wouldn't be scared, she began saying positive things that she actually
believed. Also, influencing her brother
became a very important thing. He was just a young boy with so much
responsibility.
At one point, she
grabs him by the shoulders and says, "Jonas, listen to me. We are going to
live. Do you hear me? We're going home. We're not going to die." She
gained confidence and began to truly believe that they would make it through
the war.
Lina is very similar
to the character Francie from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, because they both
deal with great loss in their lives and are struggling to get by. Both
eventually become personally responsible for supporting their family, as others
in their family have limits greater than theirs. I believe this makes both
characters stronger, more independent, and more responsible.
Although her journey
was rough, Lina found the strength to make it and influenced others along the
way. Living in this time was a struggle, but in the aftermath, a huge honor for
Lina. To say that she lived through such a traumatic time and survived would be
quite the story to tell to her children and grandchildren; once they were old
enough, of course. But I question, what kept her alive rather than other
strong-willed people in the labor camp? Was it the hope that one day, she would
return to her beloved home, or was it the determination that she, no matter
what it should take, would find her way
back to her love, Andrius?
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