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Chapter 56
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, Elena, and Jonas eat all the food quickly in case the NKVD came back for it. The can that hit Lina on the head was full of sardines, and they taste so delicious that she thinks the wound was worth it. They share their meal with Ulyushka at Elena’s urging, even though Lina is angry that Ulyushka never shares food with them. Lina wonders what the word Andrius couldn’t read was, and worries about his safety in returning the file. However, she sees him the next day and he gives her a brief nod, indicating that the file was safely returned. That night Lina draws a picture of her house at home, signs it “with love from Miss Altai,” and asks the grouchy woman to pass it along to someone in town so that it may get to Kostas in Krasnoyarsk prison. Lina tries to bribe her, but the woman doesn’t accept it and agrees to deliver the letter anyway—presumably she’s heartened by Lina’s patriotic drawings of Lithuania.
Elena continues to show how grateful she is that Ulyushka is sharing her shack with the family, though Lina is not mature enough to understand that it is important to be gracious to their host despite her rudeness. Lina does not tell her family about what was in the file right away, in case something bad happens when Andrius tries to put it back. This way, they can claim to not know she did it. Lina’s drawing to her father conveys where she is, that she is alive, and that she still holds a patriotic love for Lithuania in her heart. The grouchy woman is uncharacteristically moved by her drawings, and helps Lina for free.
Themes
