Conflicts
Main Conflicts:
Baltic Prisoners vs Soviets(Man vs Man)- This conflict was something very prevalent in the minds of people during this time. According to an article from GulagHistory.org, people in the west did not know much about the Soviet camps, or Gulags, but people in the Baltic countries would often have to stuggle daily for their lives against brutal treatment in Soviet prison camps.
Prisoners vs Death/Conditions(Man vs Nature)- Also according to GulagHistory.org, the inmates of these camps had to survive things like torture, below freezing winters, starvation, and diseases. Death was around every corner any way you looked. To survive an ordeal such of this took an almost inhuman determination and endurance that certainly appears in the characters in the book.
Lina's Old vs New Self(Man vs Self)- Lina struggles in the book to hold on to the happiness and love from her life before the camps, while also having to grow up fast in order to survive the harsh emotional trauma of her situation. This battle of hearts was something quite tangible to those entered into Siberia. Desperatley clinging to their last shreds of happiness, some people even became lost in their former innocence and found themselves unable to cope with the demands of their new lives. As we found in an account from a Holocaust survivor named Viktor Frankl, these people often did not survive simply because they were not strong enough. The author of the book uses Lina's own personal struggle to illustrate to readers the importance of balancing elements of oneself one holds dear and the new emotional skills one must attain to survive.
Prisoners' Self-Worth vs Soviet Prejudice(Man vs Man or Man vs Society)- This conflict arose between the Soviets and the prisoners because the prisoners were constantly being told that they were worthless, useless, criminals and pigs. They were beaten and starved and told that this was their own fault because they did not deserve to live. There are very few people that would be unaffected by that constant dehumanization. Many prisoners found their minds beaten down by their opressors up to the point where the prejudices they once rallied against had become their own thoughts. These poor people are described in the book as being devoid of all hope and spirit, dead looking and frail. First hand accounts have also told us that those who had lost their sense of self, very seldom survived and would succumb to cold or disease because they did not deem themselves worthy of life.
Prisoners vs Death/Conditions(Man vs Nature)- Also according to GulagHistory.org, the inmates of these camps had to survive things like torture, below freezing winters, starvation, and diseases. Death was around every corner any way you looked. To survive an ordeal such of this took an almost inhuman determination and endurance that certainly appears in the characters in the book.
Lina's Old vs New Self(Man vs Self)- Lina struggles in the book to hold on to the happiness and love from her life before the camps, while also having to grow up fast in order to survive the harsh emotional trauma of her situation. This battle of hearts was something quite tangible to those entered into Siberia. Desperatley clinging to their last shreds of happiness, some people even became lost in their former innocence and found themselves unable to cope with the demands of their new lives. As we found in an account from a Holocaust survivor named Viktor Frankl, these people often did not survive simply because they were not strong enough. The author of the book uses Lina's own personal struggle to illustrate to readers the importance of balancing elements of oneself one holds dear and the new emotional skills one must attain to survive.
Prisoners' Self-Worth vs Soviet Prejudice(Man vs Man or Man vs Society)- This conflict arose between the Soviets and the prisoners because the prisoners were constantly being told that they were worthless, useless, criminals and pigs. They were beaten and starved and told that this was their own fault because they did not deserve to live. There are very few people that would be unaffected by that constant dehumanization. Many prisoners found their minds beaten down by their opressors up to the point where the prejudices they once rallied against had become their own thoughts. These poor people are described in the book as being devoid of all hope and spirit, dead looking and frail. First hand accounts have also told us that those who had lost their sense of self, very seldom survived and would succumb to cold or disease because they did not deem themselves worthy of life.