In the book Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, fifteen-year-old Lina Vilkas from Lithuania is taken to a Siberian work camp with her mother and her brother, Jonas. Stuffed in a crowded truck with dozens of other innocent people, the family is whisked away by the Soviet Secret Police (NKVD) far from home with slight chances of getting away. They endure a lot, which includes torture, threatening, abuse, and starvation, but the family does their best to stay strong and make it through the next day.
Being seen as criminals to the Soviets, the Vilkas’ are treated like futile objects, not human beings. When the NKVD tried to take Jonas away from Lina and her mother, he is bartered off for an item. “Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brother’s was worth a pocket watch” (27). This indicates how inhumanly the captives were treated, and what their lives were worth to the Soviets. The prisoners were like tissues, used and thrown away once they became fruitless. …show more content…
Of those people, the girl meets Andrius, who becomes her friend and helps her throughout the whole book. When Andrius finds a separate car holding the men captive, he tells Lina, and together, with Jonas, they go look for their respective fathers. “‘Andrius said that an hour ago, a long train came in. Someone told him it was full of men’” (40). Although he could have gone alone with less trouble, he took the Vilkas’ because he knew they wanted to see their father. This kind act bonded Lina and Andrius, because when he needed help, she was
Being seen as criminals to the Soviets, the Vilkas’ are treated like futile objects, not human beings. When the NKVD tried to take Jonas away from Lina and her mother, he is bartered off for an item. “Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brother’s was worth a pocket watch” (27). This indicates how inhumanly the captives were treated, and what their lives were worth to the Soviets. The prisoners were like tissues, used and thrown away once they became fruitless. …show more content…
Of those people, the girl meets Andrius, who becomes her friend and helps her throughout the whole book. When Andrius finds a separate car holding the men captive, he tells Lina, and together, with Jonas, they go look for their respective fathers. “‘Andrius said that an hour ago, a long train came in. Someone told him it was full of men’” (40). Although he could have gone alone with less trouble, he took the Vilkas’ because he knew they wanted to see their father. This kind act bonded Lina and Andrius, because when he needed help, she was