Between Shades Of Gray Character Analysis Essay

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In order for Lina to survive in the novel, "Between Shades of Gray" by the author Ruta Sepetys, she will depend upon the help of family, friends, and protector as well as her own inner strength. Between Shades of Gray is a story about the fictional lives of Elena, a mother of two. Lina, the older daughter of Elena and the protagonist; and Jonas, the younger brother who has to act as a father figure although he is only 10-11 in the story. The story portrays the hardships and horrors in their time of imprisonment into the concentration camps during the Soviet Union (USSR) in WWII. Against the backdrop of the Siberian prison camps, Lina is able tosurvive eventhough she and everyone in the camp is treated like garbage. Her father was taken…show more content…
Lina had almost given up her hopes of survival as everyone in the huts they made to survive caught diseases such as dysentery, typhus, and lice; but Lina’s mother had befriended one of the USSR guards before she died and he sent for a doctor to save the prisoners from disease. The story ends with Lina’s hope to return home to her boyfriend and to restore her nation of Lithuania. Elena does not bargain or take risks when her children’s safety is in jeopardy. As the Vilkas family is being sorted by the Soviet soldiers onto trains headed for the labour camps Jonas Vilkas is pulled away from his mother to be transported in the men’s train. Elena begged with the Soviet officer to let him stay with her and then “ripped the amber pendant right from her neck and pressed it into the NKVD’s hand” as a bribe. Elena does not try to bargain with the solider to get the best deal or try and persuade him in other ways. She immediately gives him her golden watch that her father gave her because in a mother’s eyes the watch instantaneously became worthless to her when her son was in danger. Elena did not want to take any risks when dealing with getting her son back. Later on in the novel, Elena wants to send letters to her husband and other family members to see if they can help her in some

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