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Chapter 58
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
The Siberian tundra begins to thaw, and the snow turns to slush. Elena receives a letter from her housekeeper’s cousin, which reveals in coded words that Kostas is still alive. It is then that Lina tells her mother that she read the file and knows Kostas is in Krasnoyarsk. Time in the camp passes, one day feeling longer than the next. New guards come and other guards go. Meanwhile, Lina grows bolder with her drawings, and creates some that are definitely anti-Soviet. Andrius asks her if she’s learned what the word “krasivaya” means, but won’t tell her the meaning, and makes her promise not to ask her mother.
Now that Elena has confirmation that Kostas is still alive, and the file has been safely returned, Lina decides the coast is clear for her to admit the truth to Elena. Heartened by the idea that her drawings really might reach Kostas one day, Lina grows bolder in her depictions of the camp. She feels that she must resist the NKVD in her own way. The word “krasivaya” becomes a loaded term in the novel, here as a romantic link between Lina and Andrius.
Themes
