Between Shades of Gray

416 Words2 Pages
Faith Flett—Between Shades of Gray Compare and Contrast Character Essay During World War II, Stalin has his Secret Police, the NKVD, capture people in the U. S. S. R., and adjoining territories like Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. This became a tragedy like Hitler’s purge of the Jews in Germany. In Between Shades of Gray, many people from Lithuania had to leave their homes to travel to Siberia. Two main characters, Lina and Andrius, both came off as independent and headstrong, but later on they begin to express their feelings and open up to new things. They had to do this in order to survive together. This shows that they are both crafty, smart, and compassionate. Lina shows the reader that she is very courageous, but she is also headstrong and sensitive. Fortunately, through the struggle she matures. Lina shows her being headstrong by how demanding she is. More often than not, the NKVD would not give promised bread portions, in a case like that Lina would be willful to getting her deserved part. Lina and Kretzsky have a strained conversation. He tells Lina his story, a story composed of misery and heartache. Evidently, Lina truly felt bad for Kretzsky, for she told him she was sorry, and he said he was sorry about her mother. This example shows Lina is sensitive and mature, as much as she wanted to spit in his face and laugh at him, she showed compassion. Andrius’ character shows that he is very unselfish, protective, and strong. All of his traits become stronger from beginning through end of Between Shades of Gray the more we get to see his character open up. Andrius shows maturity and unselfishness when he uses his misfortune to help others. Continuously Andrius has taken care of Lina and her family as best he can, while also caring for his mother. Andrius explains that his mother was forced to be a prostitute for the NKVD, who threatened to kill
Open Document