“A Night Divided” takes the reader through the heroic journey of Gerta, where Nielsen highlights the struggle and sacrifice it takes in order to pursue freedom. The story takes place over a four year span in Cold War East Germany, where we see our heroine Gerta demonstrate immense bravery and advanced intellect for her years. Evidence Body Paragraph #1 – Outsmarting and out maneuvering the East German secret police (Stasi) is a daily occurrence for Gerta, but she is also challenged by keeping her overprotective mother Katharina, who is firmly set on not disobeying the law, at bay. In the beginning of the novel, Gerta does not understand her mother and resents her compliance, as “I kept waiting for Mama to tell us we were leaving too. Surely, she would, any day now.
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Maybe she had been a prisoner here long before the fence appeared.” (Pg. Chapter 3: Gerta and her brother Fritz are left with their mother on the East side of the wall, as her father and brother Dominic are on the West side. Early on in the story, the roles are convoluted between child and parent. Often Fritz and Gerta keep things from their mother, because they don’t want to burden her and perhaps also don’t trust her desire to leave. Gerta sees her family crumbling and longing to be a unit again, “our family was like a house of cards in a stiff wind, and when it became too much to feel the pain of our collapse, all I could do was become angry.” (page 36). . How can she do this if she is just a child? Gerta, who as a young girl should only be concerned with her friends and school, but rather the burden of her family’s divide has left her with great troubles. She feels out of control of what is happening and is angry that her world is in such chaos. Body Paragraph #2 – Throughout the story Gerta experiences a lot of character development, but her desire for freedom remains
Maybe she had been a prisoner here long before the fence appeared.” (Pg. Chapter 3: Gerta and her brother Fritz are left with their mother on the East side of the wall, as her father and brother Dominic are on the West side. Early on in the story, the roles are convoluted between child and parent. Often Fritz and Gerta keep things from their mother, because they don’t want to burden her and perhaps also don’t trust her desire to leave. Gerta sees her family crumbling and longing to be a unit again, “our family was like a house of cards in a stiff wind, and when it became too much to feel the pain of our collapse, all I could do was become angry.” (page 36). . How can she do this if she is just a child? Gerta, who as a young girl should only be concerned with her friends and school, but rather the burden of her family’s divide has left her with great troubles. She feels out of control of what is happening and is angry that her world is in such chaos. Body Paragraph #2 – Throughout the story Gerta experiences a lot of character development, but her desire for freedom remains