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Chapter 54
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 and Jonas go to the NKVD barracks and wait for Lina’s bread. Suddenly, drunken officers throw potatoes and garbage at the children. A can cuts Lina’s face. When a sack hits Jonas, the officers cheer. Kretszky tells the children he is going to report them for stealing food. They quickly grab what they can. Andrius helps carry the food back, and tells Lina she’s bleeding. He notices that she’s holding her coat funnily—the file is beneath it—and asks her if she’s hurt her arm. Lina replies no, and they walk in silence.
This scene shows that the NKVD officers are largely sadistic, and often beat the deportees for sport than because of their orders. However, even though they are being mocked and injured, conditions in the camp are so bad that Lina and Jonas are grateful for the scraps of food that rain down upon them. Though Lina knows it was dangerous to take the file, she’s done the deed, and might as well take advantage of it.
Themes
