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Chapter 47
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
One week later, Jonas becomes sick and cannot work. His leg is covered in spots and he has a fever. The NKVD refuse to give Jonas his ration because he had collapsed on the job, and the young boy soon begins to slip into unconsciousness. Worried that the sickness is contagious, Ulyushka tells Elena to take Jonas outside into the snow. Elena refuses and yells back at Ulyushka until she leaves. Elena prays for Jonas’ life.
Although Elena generally maintains a pleasant disposition, she is fiercely protective of her children. The inhumanity of the NKVD policies are further shown when people become sick for want of food and thus cannot work, and as a result are deprived of their already meager rations.
Themes
The older man who told the group he was a lawyer comes to the shack and announces that Jonas has scurvy and needs vitamins. Elena rushes out of the shack to beg the other deportees for food for Jonas. Andrius comes to the shack and brings him a can of tomatoes and forces him to eat it. Elena brings in the Siberian shoemakers who befriended Jonas, and they promise to give him tea that will improve his condition.
Though Andrius has been angry at Lina for some time now, he still cares about Jonas and the wellbeing of her family. He shows a great kindness by bringing Jonas tomatoes, which ultimately save his life by giving him the vitamins he desperately needs.
Themes
