Survival In 'Between Shades Of Gray'

In the year 1941, Lithuania was invaded and many Jewish families fled from Lithuania. Margarets family didn't leave because her brother Alik was at a children's holiday camp. Margaret was never sent to a camp, she lived in the ghetto. Margaret's description of the ghetto years as “dreadful”. The people were forced to do hard labour and were deprived of their food.

The main conflict in my book "Between shades of gray ", would be, when Lina, her little brother Jonas, and their mother have to survive to find whether their father and husband are alive or dead. The protagonist in my book would be Lina and her family and the event that would be happing to them would be that they have to go through tough things to get the answer if her father is alive or dead, but in the middle of the story, Lina finds out that her father has been shot and she is now devastated . The antagonist in my book would be, the NVKD soldiers because, they are the ones who are punishing poor people because of their own problems in this book.

First of all, in the beginning of the novel, Lina finds love in her relationships which helps her defeat all pain. As she suffers traumatic events, Lina finds hope through her friends and family, allowing her to survive horrendous labor camps. Additionally, expressing their strong connection, Lina also learns to cling onto her friends and family mentally when they physically aren’t there. When Lina gets seperated from her boyfriend, Andrius, he gives Lina a stone to remember him by. While feeling alone one night, Lina says,”’I will see you...I will.’ I reached into my pocket and squeezed the stone” (336). This stone symbolizes their love and hope to just see each other again. Without this stone to hold onto, Lina would probably give up. Then, soon after Lina found out her father died in prison, which built onto all the stress and suffering in her life. Before

Jonas accepting his society because he's unaware of emotions of the other people in his community. Jonas follows the rule of having the share your feelings everyday. Not telling

Many characters’ lives are enveloped by a mental issue and they are a representation for these issues. Art covers these multiple issues. The Holocaust affected millions of people and of these millions, Vladek, Anja, and Mala all were left with

To make her life better. Why didn't I? I could have turned to my parents, I suppose. It would have blown up my family in an instant. Instead of my siblings and I kept everything to ourselves, and rather than blowing up in an instant my family broke apart slowly.” Trizon noticed that because he never stood up for her, she lost her freedom to live. Lola never felt happy because she was under the families power. She was a enslaved all her life. Lola was never educated like normal people she never knew how to read or write. She never felt loved by her parents, like the way Tizon’s parents loved him and his sibling. Tizon sees how Lola never had the opportunity to see the world and what the world had to offer her. He realized that not talking to his parents put Lola in a bad situation. For instance, when Lola was complaining about how her teeth hurt, which hurt her for months, Tizon’s mom used to always accuse her of faking it so she doesn't work. Tizon told his mother that Lola should go see the dentist. But Tizon’s mother refused, she began to think that the children were siding with Lola instead of her.

Jonas has to learn more about death and pain than he already has. Death was something that wasn’t talked about in the community. The community “releases” members when they are old or if there is a set of twins or something wrong with a baby. Release is something celebrated within the community. Jonas had no idea that what release really means is to murder someone. He watches the release of a baby boy who was part of a set of twins born into the community. His father is the one performing this release because his father is a nurturer. This knowledge left Jonas devastated and in shock that his father could do something so terrible. He leaves the Giver’s and tells him that he can no longer continue receiving the memories. He takes a few days and collects himself. Fiona, his childhood friend talks him into to going back. Love is another emotion new to Jonas. He falls in love with Fiona. Falling in love is a big step that usually happens in adulthood. Another thing Jonas does that proves his progression in maturity is he decides to leave the community. When you grow up, you leave your mom and dad’s house which is how I connected this part of Jonas’ life with that of a real life

"It was crying and praying. So long we survived. And now we waited only that they shoot, because we had not else to do" (267). This quote from the end of the novel ironically describes what the Jewish people endured after the concentration camps. Vladek Spieglman among other suffered through traumatic experiences; though Vladek certainly did survive the holocaust, old Vladek did not. Post-Holocaust it is revealed by Spieglman that his father, Vladek, develops two personalities—before and after the concentration camps. Vladek’s post-holocaust life was haunted by the horrors he witnessed while being in the concentration camps; he went from a young, handsome resourceful man to a miserable, old man who does nothing but complain.

In early November, the Gamzers and their neighbors, the Holtzmans, were forced to share one room of a tiny too-room house in the city's north side. Two other families had to share the other room. All together they dug a secret tunnel that led to a hiding place, so the Nazis couldn't find them when there would be another aktzia. They used it several times, but after a while Luncias father realized it wouldn't be save for her, so he made arrangements that she could live with the non-Jewish Mrs. Szczygiel and her family. Living there, she was never allowed to go out or even go near to a window, always had to be hidden, cause hosting Jews means dead. Even after the family decided to not host her anymore, because they were afraid to lose their lifes, Mrs. Szczygiel tried to hide her in a wooden trunk. One day though, one of her daughter found her hiding in there and the truth was out. Actually this was the best thing that could've happened to Luncia, because a day after that Mrs. Zczygiel brought her to the Ojaks, the family that was hosting her

“The community broke into complete chaos. Everybody and everything was out of order. When the wave of painful memories hit, the people dropped to the floor and held their heads in excruciating pain. We should have thought this through more carefully Jonas. I would never have believed that such anarchy could become in such a peaceful community. But the memories were too harsh. Riots were started. Fires burnt down the buildings. Some jumped into the river and died just

Originally, it only starts with him merely not taking his pills, which holds back his emotions. However, after the twin event, he and the Giver devises a plan for him to leave and expose emotions, memories, and color to the community once more. Jonas wants to have the Giver come with him, but the Giver refuses, stating that "it will be desperately hard for them," (page 156 - PDF) and that they panicked when it happened years ago with the previous Receiver, Rosemary. Jonas eventually caves in though and agrees to go off on his own. During the beginning of his escape, he does many things against the rules. "First, he had left his dwelling at night. ... Second, he had robbed the community of food... Third, he had stolen his father's bicycle. ... [fourth,] he had taken Gabriel, too," (pages 165 and 166 in the PDF) and he also decided to leave the community itself. All of these things were so that he could leave and defy the Elders’ choice to have a safe and dull

In the later 1930s, Ludviga (Nina) Pukas found a job in a town then called Proskurov as a maid with a mother, Frima Sternik, and her two children, ages four and one. She formed such a bond with a family that even after she started her own family, she continued to stay with and work for them. She lived with the family for a few years before the bulk of the war began. Then, on July 7, 1941, the Sternik’s had their house and all their possessions burned down to the ground by Germans (King).

The holocaust has effected more lives than anybody could imagine, the tragedy has not only affected those who were there or primarily affected but those of every generation to come after that. This illustrated by Art and Vladek’s inability to get along, Vladek’s personality quirks, Anja’s suicide, Art’s guilt, are all factors that contributed to the rocky family relationship the Spieglemans had, and are all due to the horrors of the holocaust. The horrors of which did not end when the Nazi’s were defeated in WW2, rather continuing to have an impact on further generations, in which all of their stories will never be

In the novel, the author uses the characters, plot, and conflict to develop the theme that life can not be taken for granted. The author uses Jonas’s father to help develop the theme that life can not be taken for granted. The author uses Jonas to help show how emotions help people not take life for granted. The author uses Jonas and his father to help show how people can not take life for

Throughout the misfortunes of their entire society not believing in them, and even to the point where when Lina and Doon found out that their Mayor was taking more supplies, and giving up on trying to fix the city, and told people who thought that they would help, and having that turned back onto them and almost leading to them getting arrested; Lina can still believe that there were people watching over her, even in the darkness. Throughout all of the negativity, even at such a young age, she shows such a strong