Between Shades Of Gray Analysis

When put in survival situations, people’s minds gravitate to a new way of thinking; to be optimistic or pessimistic. They either think the worst is coming and have already accepted their fate, or they pray for the best and try to sustain hope and keep others optimistic. In the novel Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, Lina Vilkas, a young woman living in Lithuania as Stalin, takes over, is set on a harrowing journey. Lina and family are forced to travel thousands of miles to a work camp by no fault of their own. During life, people experience varying personalities, ways of thinking, and actions. Through the span of the novel, Sepetys conveys that in treturous and survival situations, many people choose to take the pessimistic view of things. Lina and her family are placed in a camp ultimately to suffer slowly and die. She develops a mindset that places her in a state of belief that her situation is Helland nothing is going to get better. She does not keep her
Stallas, or the bald man. Mr. Stallas and Lina share the same pessimistic views on their situation in the camp. Mr. Stalas is an extremely pessimistic person, readers see this when we are first introduced to him, he attempts suicide by jumping out of the car, and asks a young man on the train to suffocate him. In this scene the bald man has just been abducted and is on the way to a camp, he knows that these camps will be hellish and torturous places, “Boy, put your hands over my mouth and pinch” ( Sepetys 16 ). This quote is very important because it shows the severity of their situation, and that the bald man has already given up the will to live. The bald man is very fatalistic because, he believes that his death is already determined and that there is no need for prolonged suffering. The bald man's actions in this scene not only depict his thought process, but it makes everyone around him very nervous and scared for their own