Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brother was worth a pocket watch.
Shortly after Elena and her children are taken away, the NKVD wants to separate Elena from her children and send Jonas, Elena’s youngest son, to a different place. To prevent this from happening, Elena tries to bribe the NKVD officers by giving them what little valuable objects she had and the officer settled on a gold pocket watch Elena had. Many parents chose to do the same and having a piece of jewelry made the difference between life and death in many cases. This also shows just how little the officers valued life: for them, the life of a young boy was less valuable than a piece of jewelry or a pack of cigarettes.
''Hey, there was blond hair under all that dirt,” said Andrius, reaching out and grabbing a strand of my hair. I shrank back and looked away. Mother put her arm around me.
The NKVD did their best to dehumanize their prisoners; they were not allowed to bathe, use the bathroom, receive medical care or eat decent food. All this had the purpose of breaking the prisoners and making them more malleable, weak and unwilling to fight back against their jailers. This process could change a person so much that they became unrecognizable and make them fade into the background because the prisoners were less inclined to express their individuality. This was also the case with Lina who chose to make herself as small as possible to avoid being singled out by the NKVD officers. Andrius however recognizes her individuality and that what makes him fall in love with her.
“Our sense of humor,” said Mother, her eyes pooled with laughing tears. “They can’t take that away from us, right?”
Even when the situation became desperate, Elena always made sure that her children maintained a positive attitude and tried their best to bet through the horrific situation they were put through. Elena realized that while the officers can force them to leave their home, to work for strangers in a distant land and to give up all their possessions, the only thing they could not take away was their positive attitude. In many cases, this made the difference between life and death as those who were more determined to live had a better chance of surviving and eventually returning home. This attitude is what helped Lina survive because she refused to give up even after her mother died.
