Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Between Shades of Gray, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Morality, Integrity, and Sacrifice
Strength and Identity
The Power of Art
Genocide
Women and Mothers
Summary
Analysis
Lina is confused as to why she comforted Kretszky despite her deep hatred of the NKVD. The next day, Kretszky is gone. February arrives, and Janina comes down with scurvy. Jonas realizes that he, too, is developing it again. Lina tries to convince him they will be going home soon, to give him some hope for the future. She gives Jonas the stone Andrius gave her as a source of strength. As the storm rages, Lina goes begging from jurta to jurta for some food to give Janina and Jonas, but there is none to be had. Lina does her best to make Janina comfortable as they wait out the storm. Janina’s mother has been taken to the typhus hut. Lina tells Jonas she loves him.
Despite Lina’s determination to live, she simply cannot locate the resources she needs to help Janina and Jonas fight off the scurvy—they need fruit, vegetables, and sunlight, and there is none to be had for the deportees, particularly in the midst of a snowstorm. As with Elena before her death, all Lina can do is make the two children comfortable and pray for a miracle.
Themes
