Lina's Culture In The Book, Between Shades Of Gray

I have a very standard culture, and I grew up in a very standard home. My culture mixes with the culture of the different sides of my family, as well as the different cultures of my friends and peers, but all cultures I come in contact with are unique and it’s all different and extremely exciting. I decided that, for this essay, I will go back in time to another country to discover how a small Lithuanian family worked together through World War II, and how the culture they were raised with aids and affects them in their journey. The book I read was called Between Shades of Gray,the story starts with Lina, a fifteen year old girl, whose house is invaded in the night and her, her mother, and her younger brother are being deported out of their home, across the continent in train cars. I will analyze the ways that Lina’s culture aided and hindered her, and compare their aspects of …show more content…
Art played a huge role in Lina’s life and in her journey; in fact, it was the main reason she was able to stay hopeful for so long. Lina was an artist before and during her capture, art gave her opportunities that made her useful to the soviets in map drawing, and portraits. She also wrote and drew many pictures throughout her journey to document the terror she faced and the things she had to go through to survive, a quote that expressed her feelings was, “How would anyone know what was happening to us? I would continue to write and draw whenever I had the chance.”(102) I enjoy art and I find it amazing that she had the skills, and wish I had half of the talent Lina had. I can honestly say that this character is an inspiration to me, and it was difficult to compare her culture and her life to mine because she was so strong and resilient, and I don’t know if I could never be that brave. I learned so much from these characters and the book itself, and I enjoyed learning about other cultures and how diverse they are from my