43 pages 1 hour read

Jennifer A. Nielsen

A Night Divided

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015

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Themes

Heroism in the Face of East German Oppression

Gerta does not set out to be a hero at the start of the novel. She doesn’t necessarily think her father is a hero, either, as he has infected his family with the disease of his rebellion, and doesn’t understand just how dire the circumstances are for her family. She comes to equate heroic behavior with taking principled risks, in following one’s beliefs no matter what might come of them. Further, some of Gerta’s actions can be seen as not typically heroic, such as stealing the pulley to help dig the tunnel. In this way, the author asks the reader to question just what comprises a hero, and would seem to suggest that sometimes heroes must undertake actions that in other contexts, might not be seen as heroic. Separately, Officer Muller, who ultimately sacrifices his life in order to save Gerta and help her get to freedom, spends much of the book as something much closer to a villain, even telling Gerta and Fritz, at one point, that he could kill them at any time, after he discovers them in the tunnel. In the end, however, Muller dies for others’ freedom.