Between Shades Of Gray Literary Analysis

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In Ruta Sepetys’s book Between Shades of Gray, the story follows a young Lithuanian girl, Lina, and her family during World War II after the NKVD captured them and sent them around the world for labor, putting them into a seemingly irrevocable plight. However, a human’s primal instincts are to hunt, to gather, to survive, but above all–to love. Humans have always lived with this burning instinct that attaches us during even the most hopeless situations, including one of the most disgraced moments in history: World War II. As did thousands of other survivors, Lina displayed remarkable fortitude by withstanding the cataclysm of this war and recovering from its effects with love.

The theme of love first appears in “Between Shades of Gray” in chapter 13. Although Lina feels disconnected from her father due to being in separate train carts, she knew that her father could easily identify her art and would use that to her advantage. Lina explains that she “would recognize his artwork anywhere”. And papa would recognize mine. That’s what he meant, though. He could find me if I left a trail of drawings.” (34) Even without pen or …show more content…
To cause harm to yourself so that others may flourish just isn’t possible with a surface-level relationship–This takes an incredibly pure and deep bond. A strong example of this begins in chapter 72 when Lina discovers that her mother, in a final attempt to protect her children, has been giving her own food rations to Lina and her brother. “she’s always giving us bread...Mother was starving herself to feed us.” (285) Lina’s mother exemplifies the meaning of sacrifice and maternal love when she starves herself, later falling gravely ill, so that her children can eat. She accepts this brutal and devastating fate even after enduring so much hardship and privation. With no hesitation, she chooses to die, all because of the overwhelming love she held for her
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