Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Nightingale, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Morality and Impossible Choices
Antisemitism and Active Resistance
Gender Roles
Love and War
Summary
Analysis
While walking around Paris, Isabelle sees a notice that warns against aiding enemy airmen. Apparently, anyone who does so will be killed. Isabelle thinks about how she is fortunate to be a woman. No one suspects anything of her, which allows her to move around in shadows, unseen. At this point, Isabelle has been given a false identity—Juliette Gervais—as well as a codename: the Nightingale.
Isabelle regularly sees signs that tell her to do the exact opposite of what she’s currently doing. Luckily, Isabelle manages to get away with more than the average resistance member because she is a woman and nobody suspects her. Additionally, this passage reintroduces the name “Juliette Gervais,” a name first mentioned at the beginning of the novel. Although this detail does not confirm that Isabelle and the narrator are the same person, it does tilt the reader in that direction. Also, this passage is the first direct mention of the book’s title: The Nightingale. Literary tradition portrays nightingales as noble but tragic birds. This could suggest that Isabelle’s story will end tragically.
Themes
Isabelle boards a train headed for Spain. Separately, several pilots also get on the train. All of them have been given false identities and were taught how to not draw attention to themselves. Isabelle watches the pilots nervously whenever she gets the chance, and all of them do exactly what they were told. For her part, Isabelle spends the train ride flirting with German soldiers so they will not suspect that she is doing anything illegal. Isabelle gets dirty looks from French people for her behavior, but she does her best to ignore them.
Isabelle’s mission shares similarities with real historical accounts. Indeed, the book is based on true accounts of pilots who escaped via the Pyrenees. Here, as always, Isabelle utilizes her femininity to remain inconspicuous. She knows her countrymen and countrywomen will not receive her behavior well, but she appease the German soldiers to maintain her cover.
Themes
Eventually, the train stops in the mountains where Isabelle and the pilots get off. There, Isabelle finds Madame Babineau and speaks to her about her mission. At first, Isabelle is cautious not to reveal too much about herself or the pilots. Eventually, however, she decides she has no choice but to trust Madame Babineau and tells her the whole truth. Madame Babineau tells Isabelle that she knows someone who can guide her through the mountains.
Several times throughout the novel, Isabelle has to risk telling the truth to save lives. She does something similar when she gets caught defacing the propaganda poster earlier in the story. Luckily, in both cases, Isabelle’s intuitions are correct, and she saves many lives as a result.
Themes
However, when Isabelle steps out of the room where she and Madame Babineau are speaking, she is immediately shoved up against a wall. A man with foul breath questions her aggressively about her mission. Unsure whether or not the man is her enemy, Isabelle refuses to give up any information. Eventually, the man lets her go and then introduces himself as Eduardo. Madame Babineau tells Isabelle that Eduardo will be her guide through the Pyrenees.
Just when Isabelle thinks she is safe, she is suddenly thrust right back into danger. However, she refuses to give herself up. But, as it turns out, Eduardo’s behavior is simply a test, and Isabelle passed because she did not give up any information.
Themes
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After eating dinner, Isabelle goes to bed, only for Madame Babineau to wake her up in the middle of the night. Madame Babineau gives Isabelle coffee and then readies her for her journey through the mountains. The journey itself is just as terrible as Isabelle was warned it could be. The weather is terrible, and Isabelle does everything she can to keep up morale.
As the group’s leader, Isabelle acts stronger than she actually feels inside. In this moment, she becomes a leader of men, a title few women could claim in the 1940s.
Themes
Eventually, Isabelle, Eduardo, and the pilots get to the Spanish border. However, to get to safety, they must cross a perilous-looking rope bridge. To give the men confidence, Isabelle lies and says that she’s used the bridge many times. Her lie helps, and all the men cross the bridge safely. When they reach Spain, Eduardo compliments Isabelle on her performance and promises to help her again whenever she needs him. Then, Isabelle and the pilots find the nearest consulate and report what they’ve done. When they arrive, the man Isabelle speaks to can hardly believe that she is telling the truth.
Here, Isabelle uses the men’s casual misogyny to help save their lives. She suggests that if a woman could cross the bridge many times, they should have no problem doing it once. Her trick works and impresses Eduardo, who swears his loyalty to her mission. The mission’s extreme nature is apparent to the man at the consulate, and it is only at this point that Isabelle realizes the extent of her achievement.
Themes
