Lina Maturing

Authors Note: This is a piece for character development on the book, "Between Shades Of Gray".  Try to focus in on the little life lessons throughout the piece.

 In the book "Between Shades Of Gray", Lina plays a leader and model role.  When she has to survive in a car with a bunch of other people, traveling to Siberia, her leadership role comes into play.  Lina protects her brother and mom, as well as everybody else traveling with them in the car.  She also has to adapt to her new environment by not getting to eat everyday, living without sunlight, and the use of a very small bathroom hole.  Lina also changes by learning to be more secretive about everything she does. This 17 year old girl is maturing greatly and learning to be more independent throughout the book.

One way that Lina changed throughout the story, is by becoming more independent as she travels to Siberia.  When she first started in the car, she was a little bit apprehensive on saying her honest opinion because she didn't want to get on anyone's bad side.  Then she finally reached Siberia, and when the Soviets had her digging holes with a shovel that didn’t have a handle, Lina learned that she can't always complain over little things because worse things are going to happen than just digging holes.  When she realized that the NKVD or the "soviets" needed her to draw a portrait of the commander, she hesitated, then quickly got up from digging, and scurried to the Kohltz office to find that she shouldn't have jumped to this opportunity so quickly because of the fact that she didn't know what they were actually going to do with her. She sat in silence while drawing the portrait, and when the Soviets weren't looking, she dropped a nice looking pen into her lap.  Little did she know, stealing a pen from the Kohltz office was a huge mistake.

Lina is mostly maturing, except for the fact that everybody around her is being generous with their bread rations, and then there's her not caring if others' starve.  There's a young boy named Andrius who also lives in the shacks in Siberia, along with his Mother.  One night, Lina escapes her shack and finds that Andrius is outside of his shack smoking a cigarette.  She goes up to him and tries to start a conversation.  Little did she know, Andrius' mother is being used as a "prostitute" for the Soviets.  Lina tries to be smart with Andrius, but he just barks back and tells her to leave.  When she got back to her shack, she was really shaken up by the way Andrius spoke to her.  Her Mom was still awake when Lina returned, and she was giving food to Lina's younger brother.  She asked where she got the food, and her mother replied, "Andrius dropped it off".  Lina then realized she shouldn't have asked about Andrius' mother or smarted of to him.  She didn't realize that his mother was being a slave for the Soviets or that Andrius could die if the NKVD's get sick of his mother and decide to kill him.  I would never want to be in a position that he was in because I would never want the fear of waking up in the morning thinking I might die today because of men getting sick of my mother.

Ways that Lina affected other characters in the story was by being a role model.  She set good examples of trying to keep a good spirit even though they all knew there was nothing to be happy about.  She would try to make jokes at moments when people really just needed to smile.  In the book "Hunger Games", Katniss the main character, is also a great leader.  She has to protect her little sister and her Mom.  When she is in the "games", she has to fight for her whole district.  Lina has to work for food for her brother and Mom by digging holes and working in the beet farm.  In both stories, Lina and Katniss have to work their butts off to keep themselves and their families alive.  They both portray a great leadership role as well as a smart character. 

To conclude, Lina matured throughout the story.  Her leadership role came into play in many ways, such as drawing the portrait, digging the holes, and bringing a smile to someone's face often.  People can learn to enjoy the little things in life, and appreciate what they have because there are always going to be the people that have lesser than you.  I think the author had in mind when they wrote this was to include life lessons as well as a great non-stop read.  Just remember, don't forget the little things in life, love one another, and appreciate what you have as an individual and help out those who have less than you.