Between Shades Of Gray Analysis

Between Shades of Gray was a phenomenal book in a different perspective of World War ll. The story is told by Lina, a girl during the devastating hardships she, her mother, and brother experience when they get captured and taken to a Soviet prison camp. She takes a long journey cramped in a train car with the other prisoners, many that don’t survive. When she and the survivors make it to the camp they face struggles like no other such as starvation, harsh winters, and illnesses. She also must be away from her father because he and other men are taken to another prison camp somewhere in Siberia. This book gives the outlook on someone who is confident in Hitler to do good. She believes that he can push the Soviets out of her country, and she can come home.

This book shows that Hitler wasn’t the only one uprooting and destroying families. It is really a unique perspective on World War ll.
I really feel that the meaning of this book is to stay positive and to have hope in the darkest of situations. During the entirety of the book Lina stays positive and never loses hope that she, her mother, and brother will make it out alive. But not only does the text show the meaning of the text but the reader’s interaction with it does as well. I think that meaning stood out to me most because of the way I read the book and also the mindset I was in. As I read, I was hopeful that she and her family would make it out alive and be reunited right along with her. When Lina draws on the handkerchief and passes it to someone in hopes that it could make it to her father I never forgot about it, even though it never really appeared again in the book. I was hopeful that Lina would receive word that her father got it and I’m sure there was a part of Lina in the book that hoped that too and my thoughts brought it out more prominently. Also if my mindset was more along the lines of thinking that she would would not be reunited with her father or make it out alive, I think the meaning of the text may have been changed or something else would have stood out to me. The reader’s interaction definitely changes parts of the story in a way.
If the reader’s mindset can change the meaning of the story, then is there really a correct meaning to the story?

I think there is an infinite amount of meanings that can be derived from this text. So there is never really a true, correct meaning to it. There are meanings that the reader themselves see and that is all that matters. Books are meant for us readers to enjoy and if we were forced to see only one meaning of the book, then it would be boring. There would never be anything to discuss and there would be no point to the book. Books are meant to strike controversy and stir ideas. If everyone had the same idea, there would be no controversy and no new ideas added to the plate. There are many that would say that the meaning that the author intended is the correct meaning but I don’t believe that is true. The book is the author’s, but when they put it out there, it becomes the reader’s as well. We are entitled to the book almost as much as they are. We have our own thoughts and opinions about the book and we the readers discuss what the text is about. Our discussions change the meaning of the book over and over again. as the meaning constantly changes there is never a true, set in stone meaning for the

book.
This book has many controversial ideas, from the relationships she forms to the actions that she takes. When she stole the file from the commander’s office my first thought was that it was a bad idea but the more I thought