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
Vianne travels to Paris in hopes that she will find Isabelle but has no luck. She goes to Julien’s apartment, only to find that no one has lived in it for a long time. She also travels to a hotel where concentration camp survivors are gathering. All around, people are looking for their family members, and many of them are not having much luck. Vianne finds a Red Cross worker and asks him if he can look up some names for her. She also tells him that she has the names of the many children she saved throughout the war. The worker takes Vianne into a back room, and Vianne gives him the list with the children’s names on it. The man looks at Vianne with a great sense of admiration.
Vianne cannot locate Isabelle because she does not know which camp the Nazis sent Isabelle to. At this point in history, American troops had liberated some of the Nazi camps; however, others were still in operation. Following World War II, it was difficult for many people—especially Jewish people—to reunite with their families because so many died in the camps. It was difficult to know who was alive and dead and where everyone ended up.
Themes
Next, the man looks up Rachel, Marc, and Isabelle. Unfortunately, he has no good news. Both Rachel and Marc died in concentration camps, and there is no record of Isabelle’s existence. The man tells Vianne that he is sorry for her loss and that she should go home and wait for Isabelle to find her way back. On the way back to Carriveau, Vianne tells Sophie that Ari is officially her brother. She also explains that the child she is carrying will be raised with a sense of love and hope, regardless of who its father is. That, according to Vianne, is the only way forward.
Here, Vianne experiences another terrible loss. Rachel and Marc died in their respective camps, meaning that the Nazis took away two more people she loved. As such, Vianne plans to raise Ari like her son. She believes that Rachel would want it that way. She hopes love will conquer war but wonders if that thought is naive.
Themes
In the meantime, Isabelle and Madame Babineau hear something going on in their camp. When they go and examine the cause of the disturbance, they realize that the Nazis have left the camp. Isabelle and Madame Babineau rejoice as they realize that they have survived. As they celebrate, American tanks come rolling into the camp.
Despite all her hardships, Isabelle perseveres until the end of the war. Although the Nazis may have tried to break her spirit, they were not successful.
Themes
Vianne continues to wait for Isabelle. One day, not long after Vianne’s trip to Paris, Antoine takes Vianne outside and presents her with a surprise. Ari and Sophie have prepared a play with the help of Antoine, which they plan to put on for Vianne. Vianne watches the play and cannot help but take immense joy in what she sees.
Ari and Sophie's play is reminiscent of a moment from the beginning of the novel where the Mauriacs have a family picnic. It is an idyllic scene but also one that is infused with a deep sense of melancholy.
Themes
Get the entire The Nightingale LitChart as a printable PDF.
While the play is going on, a car arrives, and two men get out. The men speak with Antoine, who then calls over Vianne. Antoine has a serious look on his face and Vianne can tell that she will not like what she is about to hear. The men explain that they are part of a Jewish organization that seeks to reconnect Jewish people with family they lost during the war. Although Ari’s parents did not survive, Ari has Jewish relatives in America who want to take him in.
Unfortunately, the play cannot finish because Vianne and Antoine are interrupted by even more bad news. Ari is one of the few good things that came out of the war, and it seems like now Vianne is about to lose him too.
Themes
This news is devastating to Vianne; she cannot fathom giving up Ari. However, the men convince her that it is the right thing to do. Millions of Jewish people were killed during the Holocaust, and the men want to make sure that Ari is raised Jewish so that their culture doesn’t die out. Vianne knows what she has to do, and she knows how much it will hurt. She calls Ari to her and explains to him that although she loves him very much, he will have to go and live with his relatives in America. Vianne promises Ari that he will have a great time in America and that there is no need to get upset. Nonetheless, when Ari leaves, he immediately begins bawling. Vianne thinks that giving up Ari was the hardest thing she’s ever had to do.
Although Vianne does not want to give up Ari, she realizes why she must. As the men say, the Nazis massacred millions of Jewish people during the Holocaust, and it is vital to salvage what remains of Jewish culture. However, to Vianne, giving up Ari feels like losing yet another child; it is almost more than she can bear, but she decides to do it anyway. This decision is the last impossible choice that Vianne has to make, and the most difficult.
Themes
