Doctor Martin's Shades Of Gray

This book personally hit me on many different levels. When starting the book, I was aware of the general story; however, I had no idea I would relate to the book as much as I did. Before anyone discovered Martin was conscious of what was going on around him, he struggled with depression, and even attempted to take his own life. Martin felt his life was worthless and would have rather left the

“Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning my brother’s was worth a pocket watch.” This book is Between Shades of Grey, by Ruta Sepetys. The genre of this book is historical fiction. The book is about a 13-year-old girl, Lina, and her family. They are a Jewish family at the time of the Nazi’s. This was not a very good time in Lina, her brother, or her mom’s life. All of a sudden Lina and her family find themselves on a railroad cattle car and they don’t know where they are going or where their dad is. On the cattle car, Lina meets a cute boy her age named Andrius who is trying to find his dad, also. Lina and Andrius go and try to find their dads. Lina finder hers, but Andrius comes up empty-handed. When they get off the cattle car, which is 1 year later, Lina is split up from her dad, so she has to work to try to find him again but then she finds out he is dead. Lina gets out of the camp they are in and her and Andrius get married. In the book Between Shades Of Grey, by Ruta Sepetys Lina is courageous, determined, and loving.

This sends Dr. Martin over the edge because he does not have any support from his family or professionals and he attempts to kill Bob, this comes to another severe breakage of ethnical boundaries.

The book starts with Will talking about himself, he is a pilot who crashed a plane three times .Will survived the plane accident three times but this time he lies in the hospital and in coma. While he is on coma Will talks about himself, about the past. Will has two nieces Annie and Suzanne. After the accident Annie comes to visit him at the hospital there Annie has a friend her name is Eva and she is a nurse. Eva tells Annie to talk with her uncle because it is good for him and probably he can hear everything so she begins to talk with him and tell her stories and everything about what happens to her. Annie has a younger sister Suzanne, she is a model who has been disappeared for a long time with Netmaker Gus. The reason why Annie came to Toronto was to find her sister. Will talks about his friends Joe and Gregor and about his problem with alcohol. Will talks about Marius a person who is involved in drugs and trafficking. Marius threated him because of Suzanne. Marius beats Will and breaks his leg. Will plans to kill Marius, he shoots him but he does not die. While will lies in hospital and in coma Annie continues to tell him about herself and Suzanne. Annie is trying to find out what has happened to her sister and Gus while she is searching

The author uses imagery to emphasize something meaningful to the reader. When Will first sees his brother after his death, the imagery maximizes

Then they are caught in a terrible storm, the brother walks back to see doodle dead and that how it ends. Author James Hurst demonstrates both the positive and negative

Between Shades of Gray takes place in 1941, when fifteen-year-old Lina and her family are precipitously taken away from their home in Lithuania by the Soviet Union and transported to a Siberian labor camp. The long and horrific train ride to Siberia is pervaded with barbarity, and once the prisoners arrive, they are only faced with more cruelty. Lina, a gifted artist, records her experience in drawings kept hidden from the cruel guards, as she documents her struggles to keep faith in humanity.

Some might claim the YA genre has grown to be too dark for its target audience. Meghan Gurdon, a firm believer of this idea, explains why she believes this in her article, “Darkness Too Visible”. Gurdon describes the experience of a mother of three in a bookstore looking to purchase a YA novel for one of her children, when she found herself leaving the bookstore empty-handed due to the content of the teen books. While teen books decades ago contained less violent/corrupted material, times have changed along with the genre. She is concerned that these books could have an effect on these young readers’ brains as they are merely transferring from childhood to adulthood. Gurdon still has faith that YA books would sell just as well and connect with young readers today without all of the dark subject matters discussed in them these days.

There are many scenes of physical violence present in the text, both stated and implied. It begins with the aggression seen with McLendon upon his entry into the barber shop, building up to the crucial moment where they have taken Mayes, to the implied murder through the lack of description of what happened to Mayes, concluding with the domestic violence McLendon has with his passive and mothering wife. The action of killing Will Mayes has been omitted to keep our attention on the causes of the violence. This point of view is written in an observer’s field of perspective where the observer is all knowing of the circumstances and details of each scene. From the physical violent elements such as the stifling scene of the barber shop to the emotional violent elements of the characters, such as when McLendon says “Are you going to sit there and let a black son rape a white woman on the streets of Jefferson?”(Faulker 50)

not knowing exactly everything about the man showing he is judging him based on only limited information. Opposite of how he feels about his uncle, Will was introduced as an orphan as his immediate family had died which forced him to have to come live with his aunt which clearly takes a toll on him, “Forget? Will swallowed hard. It was fine for Doc Martin to talk. The war hadn’t ruined his life.’’ (Reeder 2)This reveals Wills feelings on his immediate family as he obviously cares and misses them deeply and he seems to take the sorrow of not having them no longer on his uncle because he is unable to let other "family" into his heart. Similarly on Salvas end his internal thoughts are very consecutive as he us overwhelmed with the thought that

A few weeks ago, I finished reading your bestseller Between Shades of Gray which quickly became one of my top three favorite books ever. From the heartbreaking moments to the unique setting of the book, I could not put it down. I also was able to learn new information. I love this book so, so much, and I am definitely going to start reading some more of your amazing books!

The story starts off with an image of light to represent hope, which is quickly contrasted with gloom of darkness that seems to hang over the characters and threaten the narrator and his family throughout the story. Hope overwhelms the narrator, just as his lack of acceptance to the painful realities of his life does as well. The story starts off introducing the relationship of the brothers being that of an estranged one, not having contact over a year. The narrator reads a newspaper article about his brother being arrested in a recent drug raid and is finally hit with reality.

Through his poems, Richard Hugo takes places Americans traveled through in the era of westward expansion and, with little to no regard for any emotional attachments towns’ residents may still retain, turns them into elaborate locations with storied histories and troubled populations. Specifically, the poem “Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg” may sound from the title to be a maudlin description but is truly uplifting. In the poem, Hugo puts a focus on transience but also emphasizes appreciation of the small splashes of color in otherwise gray and dull lives. In his poetry, Hugo writes about real emotions and events from a personal perspective, using his knowledge of history, literary devices -- setting, imagery, personification, point of view,

If one man never steps forward to show all the others that change is possible, nothing will ever change. When you look back at history of the American civil rights movement, Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are still often two of the first names even someone of today’s society may think of. They were, and still are, some of the most influential men to ever live. As young African-American men living during a time of harsh global, but most importantly, national racism and prejudice; teaching effective techniques to achieve peace and equality to others was extremely difficult for Dr. King and Malcolm X.

The film takes a turn when Lou overhears Will’s parents talking about Will wanting to end his life, that his six months of trying are almost over. Lou discovers that she was hired to change his mind about ending his life. Lou leaves abruptly and talks with her sister, Katrina, who tells her to make his time left on Earth filled with happy memories. This inspires Lou to research activities and support systems for Will in a final attempt to change his mind about the physician-assisted suicide. Although the activities are selected with the best intentions, several problems arise which spoil the whole day for Will (e.g. the wheels of Will’s wheelchair becoming stuck in the deep mud at the horse track).