Moral Values In 'Between Shades Of Gray'

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Our moral values, how much we value someone else's life and how those thoughts affect our actions, is not something we are born with. In theory, our moral affects how we treat others- but it also affects how we treat ourselves. Being taught by an early age that you are of a less value than other people, feeling lower in society the moment you were born, and being treated less than humans affects what yo stand up for, the self-care they allow themselves to have, or even our actions to defend our rights and freedoms. There are two main ways someone could react to extreme cases of discrimination: staying low and protecting themselves and their or fighting for themselves and everyone in the world-from family to strangers. In short, how do people …show more content…
During “Between Shades of Gray” Lina and her family were forced into a labour camp located on a turnip farm and forced to do hard labour throughout the day. In exchange for their hours of hard work, the family was allowed 300 grams of bread per day. No one in the book fought for more food, and no one dared complain. Being surrounded by people that see your life “worth a pocket watch” (Sepetys, p.27) makes you believe that your life is worth a pocket watch too. Slowly but steadily, Lina and her family see that they’re not only losing their freedom but themselves too. “Our sense of humor, they can't take that away from us, right?” (Sepetys, p.125) Lina’s mother says, in the sudden realization that their captures can take anything they want. For another situation similar to this, Andrius' mother decided to give up the rights to her body to the Soviet Soldiers in exchange for food, shelter, and safety for her son. In “The Help” colored individuals get treated so much like outcasts, that “a bill that requires every white home to have a separate bathroom for the colored people” (Stockett, pg. 10) is suggested. Even when getting accused of being dirty just because of his skin color, Roger (a young African American teenager) decided that he had the right to use a public bathroom. In result, Roger was attacked and blinded; but even then he did not think to take it to take his case to court to get justified, too afraid his situation would get worst. Being treated less than human makes you sacrifice things you never thought you would for a small amount of
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