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Chapter 43
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 given a map of Siberia and a photo of a family, with a black box around a man’s head. An officer gives Lina a nice selection of pens and paper. Lina wonders where she is on the map, and where her father is. Lina tries to commit the map to memory so she can draw it herself later. Though guards hover throughout her drawing, Lina manages to covertly drop a pen into her lap to steal for herself. The commander comes in and observes her work, and appears surprised at her talent.
Though the NKVD treat the deportees as less than human, even the commander cannot deny Lina’s talent for drawing. Lina hates doing anything that can help the Soviets, but she relishes being able to properly draw as she used to. She cannot resist stealing one of the beautiful instruments—after all, she can put it to much better use than the NKVD.
Themes
