How It Changed

Author’s Note: In this essay I will demonstrate my knowledge of text to world by explaining what happens in the book Between Shades of Gray, by, Ruth Sepetys and comparing it to real life as today.

Imagine a bunch of police storming into your house and taking you away, without having any reason and shoving you into a tiny truck with other people and driving away and never being able to see your house ever again. This is what exactly what happens in the book, Between Shades of Gray by, Ruta Sepetys. Lina who is the main character in this book had to go get thrown out of her own house by the police. Every since that day her life completely changed. This novel shows how cruel people would treat other’s back then in the 1940’s and how much people have changed since today.

The main character Lina was like any 15 year old teenage girl that had a great passion for art and she had a wonderful family that cared for her so much. Until one day a group of police stormed into her house and grabbed her family and took them away to Siberia while her father was sent to prison. And now she would do whatever to get her family back together with the help of her mother and younger brother Jonas.

Lina, her mother, and younger brother faced many harsh punishments by the police that had taken them away from their home. For example they would not be able to take showers and were forced to work outside for many hours while they would get very filthy and stinky. Then they would be shoved inside a train with many other people in it so it would get very crowded “I counted the people-forty six packed in a cage on wheels, maybe a rolling coffin” pg.35. This kind of abuse does not happen anymore today, especially since there is a law that states how people can’t barge into your house without your permission and can’t be treated like a slave under any circumstances. Not only that but we have showers in our houses that we are able to take anytime that we desire too and not stay filthy and clean ourselves. The way the police treated them, was very wrong and rude

Another way the police would treat them very horribly is that they would basically treat Lina and all of the other people just like animals. When they would nothing wrong the police would either spit or shoves them to ground and embarrass them in front of everybody. Also, they wouldn’t give them enough food to them and if the police thought they were acting too badly for them wouldn’t give them anything to eat for the rest of the day “No bread today, you ingrate. Get to work!” pg. 313. This just shows on how cruel the police would treat people back in 1941. This has changed dramatically today because all of the polices today just want to help out people make sure they’re safe and doing the right things, the last thing the police would want is someone to get hurt.

The police made life for Lina and her family very difficult and horrible. The way they treated and spoke to them made them very uncomfortable. Throughout the whole novel it shows how poorly treated everyone was treated and the bad guys that were in the book are actually the good guys we have today in society. The police would do anything to make sure people are doing what they are supposed to be doing, there is a lot that has changed since back then to now and it changed it a much better environment.