Life is filled with the unexpected, good and bad, however the stronger the wind, the stronger the root. We grow more as individuals during the hard times as we push ourselves to become stronger people. In the novel Stolen Child by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, you will be introduced to several characters, one being the stolen child who identifies herself as Nadia. A young child of war with an identity crisis, whom we watch grow into a brave, mature and confident being . Nadia first arrives in Canada after the end of world war II with a woman Marusia and a man Ivan, who pose as her parents. Nadia was kidnapped by the Nazis and her real parents were murdered. Nadia had first met Marusia after she was stolen from her family and placed in the lebensburg program, a program where hitler tried to create a pure race which consisted of "aryan looks'. During the program Nadia was sent to a camp where she was taught ' how to be German'. She was stripped of her identity and separated from her sister Lida who did not resemble the idea of a pure race. After Nadia served her time in the camp she was placed with a German family and this is where she met Marusia (the cook). Nadia eventually puts her fear behind her and builds up enough courage to flee to Canada with Marusia for a better life. Throughout the chapters we see the turning points in Nadia's life that influence her character changes. During the course of the novel stolen child Nadia's character goes through a distinct transformation, which could be seen through the development of her courage, self-awareness, and self-sufficiency.
At the very beginning of the novel Nadia's character displayed many signs of fear, but that seemed to change over the course of the book, for her fear was replaced with courage. For instance the idea of walking to school terrified Nadia, however the fact that she was in Canada now gave her a sense of courage; "I am a Canadian girl now...Canadian girls