Krystyna

Character study

Krystyna cares for others.

Caring

‘I wish I could hold her

in my arms’ Marysia raped

‘I sat right beside her

smoothing the damp hair

back from

her forehead.’ P.75 Mother

dying

Her whole experience with war and death makes her grow up and mature at a young age. She just wants to feel

like she belong somewhere.

Mature

Many of the things that I could remember made me cry, but crying felt like a sort of weakness so I tried not to think about things that were sad.’ (138)

She is a survivor. When it come to food she steals from people to feed

herself.

Survivor

‘…I was so hungry, so very hungry that I had to dip my finger into it. Two, three or four times I dipped in my finger and sucked up the gruel…’ p.58

Another example of this is?

She is self conscious. When she is in the dress shop she does not

want to take her clothes off.

Self conscious

‘I felt shy and embarrassed.’

In front of the shop assistant.

Another example?

Krystyna is determined to survive and to help her brother live too.

Determined

‘…my life blood soared

and felt full of promise…’(44)

Leaving the cattle wagon made her think her life was worth living after all.

She is curious and asks question about what is happening.

Curious

‘I felt scared and lonely. ‘But what will happen…where will we go?”’

She is innocent and young as she does not understand about the rape

and what happened to Marysia because of this.

Innocent

‘Marysia…was groaning loudly and tossing about. She seemed to be having some sort of violent fever.’ (57)

Krystyna is intelligent. She learns English quickly and gets her school

certificate.

Intelligent

‘She came here without a word of English and now she is doing very well.’

She is brave as she did not cry infront of people and wasn’t afraid

to go into the forest and tell her people about the amnesty.

Brave

She often puts her fist in her mouth to suppress her tears.

‘I didn’t worry about the guards seeing me…’p.65