A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen Literary Analysis Essay Example

Imagine, one night you go to sleep, and when you wake up you’re surrounded by a wall. This is what happened in the book I read called, A Night Divided. This story took place during the Cold War in the 1960s. During this time the capital city of Germany, Berlin, was divided by a wall that surrounded West Berlin. They did this because people kept fleeing to the west where they could live unrestrained life. The major character, Gerta, lives in East Berlin. This side is controlled by The Soviet Union. 

There are many words to describe Gerta, but I think naive and impulsive describe her the best. One way Gerta is naive is because she didn’t think out the plan of tunneling to West Berlin. She didn’t fully realize how dangerous it was until Gerta told Fritz the plan. This shows her naiveness because she didn’t consider where they would put all the excess dirt, how long it would take, or how much effort it would take. Another trait that Gerta expresses is that she is impulsive. One way she is impulsive is she didn’t think before telling her mother that she saw Domnic, her brother, on the way to school. This makes her impulsive because she didn’t think and blurted it out. She didn’t realize that her mother would be sad that her son has grown up without his mother for the past four years. Then, Gerta regretted it. The character Gerta faces a lot of struggles throughout the book. One struggle is she is separated from her family. Another one is that she doesn't think before she does anything. These are some of the most important words that describe Gerta. 

There is one major conflict in the book A Night Divided. This is because she is separated from her father and brother. She is separated from them because right before they put the wall up, her father wanted to go to the west and look for homes and jobs over there. He decided to take Gerta’s brother, Dominic, with him. That same night the Berlin Wall was put up. The Stasi were not a huge fan of her father. One way she is impacted by this is that the Stasti do not trust her family and have made documentations of them. Gerta and her brother cannot get good jobs because of this. The Stasi also bugged the apartment and can listen to anything the family does. The author resolves the conflict by Gerta and Fritz finding an air-raid shelter that is very close to the Death Strip. They decide to dig an underground tunnel to West Berlin to try to live a life of freedom and see their family. This is a major conflict and how it was solved. 

The major event in this story is the Cold War and the separation of Germany. The setting affects Gerta because she is separated from her brother and father. Parts of A Night Divided that are historically accurate are the evolution of the wall, how strict the government was, and not being able to trust anyone. Even though this takes place in history, the author took creative liberties. One of these was that no one ever escaped East Germany by digging a tunnel. Also, the characters are made up. Gerta did not exist and her actions were made up. To sum it up, the story has some real aspects and creativity.

Would I recommend this book to a friend? Absolutely! The author, Jennifer A. Nielsen is very talented. She makes you want to read. She also leaves room for your thoughts and ideas. The writing is very fluent and easy to understand. I would sometimes imagine myself in these situations. At some points, I couldn’t put the book down because I wanted to know what happened next. One question I’m dying to know that was never answered was what they did after they got to West Berlin. Even though this was a really good book, I still have some things that weren’t so great about it. Sometimes you get second-hand embarrassment. At those times I had to physically put the book down. Overall, I would give this book an 8/10.